How labour-intensive is the circular economy? A policy-orientated structural analysis of the repair, reuse and recycling activities in the European Union

•Repair, reuse and recycling differ in labour intensity and working conditions.•Structural heterogeneity of circular activities implies the need for targeted policies.•Potential for genuine circular job creation in repair and reuse activities.•Repair and reuse are currently low-wage activities in the European union.•Targeted tax policy can spur revalorization and competitiveness of repair and reuse. The socio-economic structural conditions for the transition towards a circular economy (CE) are little explored, as most of the research is concerned with technical and organizational aspects. The few studies addressing the matter focus on the estimation of GDP growth and job creation potential of certain "circular activities” (CA). These CA are assumed to be labour-intensive, so job losses resulting from the paradigm shift should be offset by the overall gains. However, significant structural differences in the economic characteristics of these activities suggest that their development may have dissimilar socio-economic implications, while their promotion would require diverse policy instruments. This paper aims to study the current sectoral structure, main economic features and recent evolution of the CA in the European Union. The focus is on the 24 activities that, according to the NACE Rev. 2, compose the repair, reuse and recycling sectors, as a limited yet representative subset of all the CA currently bound and constrained within the predominant linear economy. Results show that significant differences in labour intensity exist between repair and reuse, on the one hand, and recycling, on the other. Besides, employment concentrates in low-wage labour-intensive CA, suggesting that more attention should be paid to improving competitiveness and working conditions in activities such as repair and reuse which are by definition both ecological and inclusive. Also, the structural heterogeneity of the activities under analysis imply the need for targeted policy instruments tailored to the specificities of each of the various CE sub-sectors.