Research On The Impacts Of Digital Literacy On Employment Choice Of Rural Labor Force

Promoting the transfer of rural labor force is an important driving force for promoting sustainable economic development,and also an important support for gradually achieving common prosperity for all people.Since the implementation of reform and opening-up,China’s economy has developed rapidly and achieved a remarkable "growth miracle".The optimal allocation of labor resources,especially the transfer of rural surplus labor to cities,is an important factor in promoting China’s economic growth and make it become a major economy in the world.However,in recent years,the speed of rural labor force transfer in China has decreased,specifically manifested by the stabilization of the total number of migrant workers and the continuous decline in their growth rate.From the perspective of the number of migrant workers,the number of migrant workers has increased from229.78 million in 2009 to 277.47 million in 2015,with an average annual growth of7.9483 million people.In 2021,the number of migrant workers was 292.51 million,while from 2015 to 2021,the average annual growth of the number of migrant workers was only 2.5067 million.Concurrently with the decline in the growth rate of migrant workers,the rising labor cost in China(Cai Fang,2018)has hindered the sustained and healthy development of the economy.Although the speed of rural labor force transfer in China has decreased,the Lewis inflection point has not yet arrived.The scale of rural surplus labor in China is still large,benefiting from technological progress and productivity development,China’s agricultural production efficiency has been significantly improved,and the demand for labor in the agricultural sector has decreased year by year.The number of agricultural labor decreased from 342 million in 2006 to 314 million in 2016;The proportion of agricultural labor decreased from 43.8% in 2000 to 25.4% in 2019.However,compared to agricultural developed countries,the scale of agricultural labor force is still large.According to the date of the World Bank in 2019,the proportion of agricultural employment in the United States,the United Kingdom,and Japan was1.3%,1.0%,and 3.4%,respectively.During the same period,the proportion of agricultural employment in China was 25.4%.The proportion of agricultural employment in China was 19 times that of the United States,25.4 times that of the United Kingdom,and 7.4 times that of Japan.These indicate that the potential of rural labor force transfer in China has not been exhausted,and there is still a large amount of surplus labor in rural areas in China,so it is still necessary to strengthen efforts to promote rural labor force transfer.At the same time,it cannot be ignored that the level of digital literacy of rural labor force is relatively low.In the information age,digital literacy,as an important human capital,has become a necessary skill in many industries.Currently,most of China’s migrant workers are engaged in low-skilled and labor-intensive industries,with low-skilled levels and digital literacy,and their employment competitiveness is at a disadvantage.This article raises the following questions: Does digital literacy affect rural labor force employment choices? Specifically,first of all,from the perspective of the employment sector(agricultural employment or non-agricultural employment),does digital literacy affect the participation of rural labor force in nonagricultural employment? If there is an impact,what is the direction and extent of the impact,whether there is a heterogeneous impact,and what are the possible mechanisms of action? Secondly,from the perspective of employment types(nonagricultural employment and non-agricultural entrepreneurship),does digital literacy improve the probability of rural labor force entrepreneurship? And what are the possible mechanisms of action? Finally,based on the quality of employment(formal and informal employment),this paper explores whether digital literacy has promoted the formal employment of migrant workers.In the context of the dual overlap of aging and fewer children,and the gradual loss of labor resource,these issues are closely related to promote the transfer of rural labor force and the sustainable development of China’s economy.At the same time,these issues are also related to the narrowing of the urban-rural gap and the realization of common prosperity.This article will build an analytical framework for the impact of digital literacy on rural labor force employment choices based on existing research,taking accelerating the transfer of rural labor force as a starting point,and taking digital literacy of rural labor force as a starting point.It will closely focus on promoting non-agricultural employment of rural labor force,improving the entrepreneurial probability of rural labor force,and enhancing the formal employment of migrant workers,and discuss the above issues.The full text is divided into seven chapters:Chapter 1 is an introduction;Chapter 2 is a theoretical basis and literature review,mainly defining relevant concepts,reviewing labor migration and employment theories related to this article,combing relevant literature on digital literacy,and research results on rural labor force non-agricultural employment,rural labor force entrepreneurship,and formal employment of migrant workers;Chapter 3 is an analysis of the current situation of digital literacy and employment choices of rural labor force in China,mainly describing the current situation of digital literacy and employment choices of rural labor force in China through macro and micro perspectives;Chapter 4 examines the impact of digital literacy on non-agricultural employment of rural labor force,elaborates on the impact of digital literacy on nonagricultural employment of rural labor force and its possible mechanisms through an expanded Todaro model,and systematically explores the impact of digital literacy on non-agricultural employment of rural labor force through empirical research;Chapter 5 is about the impact of digital literacy on rural labor force entrepreneurship.It elaborates the impact of digital literacy on rural labor force entrepreneurship and its possible mechanisms through a career choice model,and further explores the impact of digital literacy on rural labor force entrepreneurship empirically;Chapter6 is about the impact of digital literacy on migrant workers’ formal employment.Based on theoretical analysis and empirical research,it examines the impact of digital literacy on migrant workers’ formal employment;Chapter 7 is the research conclusions,policy recommendations,and prospects.The conclusions of this article can be summarized in the following four aspects:Firstly,through the analysis of characteristic facts,it is found that the level of digital literacy of rural labor force in China is relatively low based on the analysis of micro data.Through the comparison of different groups,it is found that there is a large gap in the digital literacy of rural women,middle-aged and elderly people,and low education groups in China.Currently,the total number of migrant workers in China is stabilizing,the growth rate of migrant workers is declining,and the flow distance of migrant workers is shrinking.However,the scale of agricultural surplus labor force is still large.From the perspective of employment sector selection,the proportion of non-agricultural employment of rural labor force in China is not high,and the proportion of non-agricultural employment of middle-aged and elderly labor force and low education labor force is relatively lower,there is a large transfer space.From the perspective of employment type selection,the rural labor force is mainly employed,with a low proportion of entrepreneurship,and mainly engaged in subsistence entrepreneurship.From the perspective of formal employment options,the proportion of migrant workers in formal employment is low,while the proportion of middle-aged and elderly migrant workers,and local migrant workers in formal employment is relatively lower.Secondly,from the perspective of the employment sector,through the construction of an expanded Todaro model,it is found that digital literacy can promote non-agricultural employment of rural labor force through social networks and land transfer.Empirical analysis shows that digital literacy has promoted the non-agricultural employment of rural labor force,and mainly promoted the nonagricultural employment of youth groups and primary-educated groups.The mechanism test found that social networks and land transfer are important mechanisms for digital literacy to promote rural labor force’s non-agricultural employment.Further analysis of employment structure shows that digital literacy mainly promotes the transfer of rural labor force to the service industry,especially high-end service industry.Thirdly,based on the employment type perspective,by constructing a career choice model,it is found that digital literacy may promote rural labor force entrepreneurship through credit availability and information channels.Empirical research has found that it has increased the probability of rural labor force entrepreneurship,and mainly promoted the possibility of opportunityentrepreneurship.Compared to middle-aged and elderly labor forces,digital literacy has a greater impact on the promotion of young labor force entrepreneurship.Mechanism analysis shows that credit availability and information channels are important mechanisms for digital literacy to improve the entrepreneurial probability of rural labor force.Fourth,from the perspective of employment quality,through theoretical analysis,it is found that digital literacy can promote the formal employment of migrant workers through skills training and social networks.Empirical research shows that digital literacy has promoted the formal employment of migrant workers,and heterogeneity analysis shows that digital literacy has mainly improved the formal employment of young migrant workers,male migrant workers,and migrant workers.Mechanism analysis found that skill training and social networks are important mechanisms for improving the probability of formal employment of migrant workers through digital literacy.This article systematically constructs a framework for evaluating residents’ digital literacy,which has promoted the development of digital literacy theory from logical analysis to empirical analysis,and on the other hand,promoted the localized application of digital literacy theory in practical issues in China.This article introduces the theory of digital literacy into the study of labor employment choice behavior for the first time,deeply explains the relationship between digital literacy and rural labor force employment choice,and conducts empirical tests,expanding the academic perspective of labor economics.It is found that the improvement of digital literacy can affect the employment choices of rural labor force.This discovery has important and practical significance.Promoting the transfer of rural labor force to the non-agricultural sector not only can continue to exert China’s labor resource advantages,alleviate the impact of labor shortage on China’s economy,promote sustained and healthy economic development,but also is conducive to improving rural residents’ income,narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents,and ultimately achieving common prosperity.In summary,improving the digital literacy level of rural labor force is a key factor to promoting the transfer of rural labor force.Therefore,promoting the transfer of rural labor force requires to pay attention to traditional human capital such as education,health,and training,as well as digital literacy,a new type of human capital.First,strengthen rural infrastructure construction,achieve digital transformation,and improve the digital access level of rural residents.Secondly,establish a rural digital education system,and give full play to the role of digital education in improving the use of digital skills by rural residents.Third,implement a digital inclusion strategy to specifically improve the digital literacy level of the elderly,women,and low education groups,and reduce the digital literacy gap within rural areas.In addition,it is also necessary to continue to promote the equalization of basic public services and improve the pull of cities on the transfer of rural labor force.And deepen the reform of the rural land system and the collective operating asset system to reduce the resistance of land to the transfer of rural labor force.