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In reaction to the global financial and economic crisis that started in 2008, job creation has become a main priority of EU policy. In this context, ECF has decided to commission academic consultancy Transport & Mobility Leuven to carry out a study that quantifies the contribution of the cycling sector to job creation in Europe. This study has been realised with support from ECF’s partners in the Cycling Industry Club. It continues the work that has been initiated by ECF with the report on the cycling economy, estimating the economic benefit of cycling at € 205 bn per year for the EU-27.[1] 

So far, investments in cycling have mostly been driven by factors like the need for a more efficient transport system, congestion relief, health benefits or improved access. Employment in the cycling sector has rarely been used as an argument at the international level, except for cycling tourism. The aim of the study is to show that employment in the cycling sector is a co-benefit of investments in cycling, and also a benefit in its own right. 

The study  makes a research-based assessment of the economic value of the cycling sector for the European economy, focusing on jobs and employment. This study is one of the first to undertake the challenge of quantifying cycling jobs at European level. We take into account multiple cycling-related activities such as bike retail, bicycle manufacturing, bike infrastructure investment, cycle tourism and bicycle services. In this study, we quantify the full-time equivalent number of jobs. This is consistent with common practice in computing employment impact of economic policy measures.

[1] Economic benefits of cycling in EU 27 

ECF report Cycling Works – Jobs and Job Creation in the Cycling Economy

Main findings:

The study found that around 655,000 people work in theccycling related sectors  already as of today in the EU, most of them in cycle tourism. If cycling’s modal share were to be doubled, more than 400,000 additional jobs could be created, reaching a total of more than 1 million jobs in the cycling economy. The study also came to the conclusion that cycling has a higher employment intensity per million of turnover than other transport sectors, thus offering a higher job creation potential. Furthermore, cycling jobs are more geographically stable than other sectors, they benefit local economies, and they offer access to the labour market to lowly qualified workers.