The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Alphagold, a traditional Austrian wholesaler of jewellery and watches, has filed for insolvency, affecting 101 employees in its Austrian stores.
In total, 108 employees are affected, 101 of them in Austria and 7 in Germany: Alphagold 2024 - EU.
As the main reasons for insolvency, the company cites the changed framework conditions for the retail sector since 2015 as a result of digitalisation and the conditions during the pandemic.
The company is based in Linz and operates 32 branches of the "Le Clou" and "Juwelier Reiter" brands in Austria. During the pandemic, the company received coronavirus aid for 2020, 2021, and 2022, which was mainly used to repay loans, as well as deferrals. Alphagold is headquartered in Linz and runs 32 retail outlets across Austria and two in Germany.
Eurofound (2024), Alphagold, Bankruptcy in Austria, factsheet number 200850, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/200850.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
