'China's Alibaba creates over 36.8 million jobs in 2017'

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, headed by one China's richest men Jack Ma, created over 36.8 million jobs last year via its expansive retail ecosystem, a study report has said.

The company's various e-commerce platforms like Tmall and Taobao, which covers over 500 million consumers, offered about 14.05 million jobs to online retailers in 2017, a report from the Renmin University of China said.

Apparel and textiles, daily necessities and home appliances were the top three retail items that offered the most jobs, the report showed.

The booming online retail service also helped boost demand for professionals in upstream and downstream sectors like R&D, design, manufacturing and logistics, totalling about 22.76 million jobs, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Alibaba saw its revenue grow 56 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year.

As the e-commerce market evolves, professionals who can make mid- and long-term development plans, are capable of reforming business models and combining digital technologies with offline retail skills, are in high demand, the report said.