Research On The Impact Of Digital Economy On Labor Employment

In recent years,digital technology and platform organizations based on digital technology,represented by artificial intelligence,Big data and cloud computing,have flourished,helping the digital economy to become the fastest growing,most innovative,most influential economic form,playing an important role in driving economic growth,promoting employment and improving people’s wellbeing.According to the recent data,the scale of China’s digital economy reached 50.2trillion yuan in 2022,accounting for 41.5% of GDP,with a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 10.3%,which is about 7.3% higher than the nominal GDP growth rate of the same period.The digital economy has become the most dynamic part in the development of the national economy.Its contribution to China’s economy is increasing and its position in the national economy is becoming more stable,helping China to accelerate the construction of a Dual circulation.In addition,during the COVID-19 epidemic,the digital economy also provided an important guarantee for the normal operation of social production and life.Since the 18 th National Congress,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the government attach great importance to the development of the digital economy.General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of developing the digital economy and stimulating the vitality of the digital economy.Employment is a key economic issue and also an important livelihood issue.The job market and workers will be affected by the digital economy.In the 2020 government work report,it was proposed to accelerate the achievement of the goal of "stabilizing employment" by developing the digital economy.Previous studies have shown that the development of the digital economy has both positive and negative impacts on employment.The positive impact lies in expanding the scale of employment and increasing employment opportunities.The negative impact is that digital technology has replaced some employment positions,and even caused issues of employment polarization and income polarization.One of the important goals of China’s economic and social development during the 14 th Five Year Plan period is to achieve more comprehensive and high-quality employment.How to use the digital economy to promote more comprehensive and high-quality employment is currently an important issue.This thesis believes that accurately measuring the current level of digital economy development in China,clarifying the internal mechanisms of the impact of digital economy development on employment scale,employment structure,and employment quality,and objectively evaluating the employment difficulties existing in the process of digital economy development will provide an important grasp for China to achieve more full and high-quality employment.Based on the above background,this thesis focuses on the impact of the development of the digital economy on labor employment.The scope of labor employment includes both the job market and the workers themselves.The thesis focuses on two aspects: theoretical analysis and empirical analysis.In terms of theoretical analysis,with Marxist economic theory as the main focus and Western economic theory as a supplement,a theoretical analysis framework for the impact of digital economy development on labor employment has been constructed based on the actual situation.The internal mechanism of the impact of digital economy development on labor employment has been explored from three levels: employment scale,employment structure,and employment quality.In terms of empirical analysis,firstly,a digital economy indicator system was constructed and the overall level and regional differences of China’s digital economy development were examined;Then,based on the theoretical analysis framework,mathematical analysis is conducted to empirically test the specific impact of digital economy development on employment scale,employment structure,and employment quality using relevant data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021;Finally,propose suggestions to address the employment difficulties that exist in the development of the digital economy,in order to achieve more comprehensive and high-quality employment.The main conclusions of this thesis include:(1)The digital economy in China is showing a vigorous development trend,but there are significant differences in regional development.From an overall perspective,the scale of the digital economy and the proportion of GDP continue to increase,and its contribution to the economy continues to expand.The structure of the digital economy has been continuously optimized,the digital industrialization has been growing steadily,the digital industry has been developing vigorously,and the Digital transformation has constantly promoted the quality and efficiency improvement of traditional industries.From a regional perspective,there are significant differences in the development of digital economy among different provinces,with a decreasing trend in development level from southeast to northwest.The southeastern coastal areas have achieved high-level development of the digital economy with their advantages in funding,technology,talent,and a favorable economic environment.However,the central and western regions,due to their lack of economic strength and a relative shortage of talent,have weak capabilities in digital technology research and innovation,resulting in a low level of digital economy development.The empirical test later found that the regional "digital divide" will directly lead to regional employment imbalance,meaning that the development of the digital economy has a better effect on improving the employment scale and quality in the eastern region than in the central and western regions.(2)The development of the digital economy has generally promoted the expansion of employment,and Technological unemployment may occur in the short term.Theoretically,on the one hand,the digital technology reform has led to the improvement of labor productivity,and technology has replaced some jobs to achieve "machine replacement",thus producing employment Substitution effect;On the other hand,the transformation of digital technology has also led to the expansion of enterprise production scale,giving rise to new jobs that meet various production and living needs,thereby increasing labor demand and bringing about employment creation effects.Whether the development of the digital economy will bring about an increase or a decrease in employment depends on the substitution and complementarity between digital technology(capital)and labor.Based on the actual situation and empirical test results,there is still a large number of low-skilled labor force in China,with relatively low labor costs compared to capital.Moreover,the development level of digital technology has not yet reached the level of comprehensive substitution,so the substitution of labor force by digital technology is not yet widespread.The vigorous development of the Platform economy has lowered the employment threshold and stimulated rapid employment growth.Therefore,on the whole,the employment creation effect of China’s digital economy development is greater than the employment Substitution effect,and the employment scale is expanded,but the problem of Technological unemployment in some industries(such as manufacturing)cannot be ignored.(3)The development of the digital economy has optimized the structure of employment skills and industries,while also facing structural employment contradictions.From a skills perspective,the development of the digital economy will lead to a phenomenon of "polarization" in the job market.The skill bias characteristics of digital technology and the assumption of routine tasks have led to digital technology replacing some low-skilled workers in the manufacturing industry and expanding the demand for highly skilled workers.At the same time,new formats and models have also created a large number of employment opportunities for low skilled groups,optimizing the employment skill structure.From an industrial perspective,the development of the digital economy has led to a "service-oriented" trend in the job market.The development of digital economy promotes the upgrading of industrial structure and drives the flow of labor from the primary and secondary industries to the Tertiary sector of the economy.Specifically,agricultural employment is decreasing,manufacturing employment is uncertain due to the coexistence of Substitution effect and creation effect,and service employment is increasing.The fundamental reason is that the development of the digital economy has a Substitution effect on the medium and low skilled employment in agriculture and manufacturing,and has a greater employment creation effect on the highly skilled personnel in the manufacturing industry and the service industry as a whole.In particular,new formats and new models have created a large number of labor-intensive jobs in the service industry.These low threshold jobs have a certain positive impact on expanding employment and absorbing workers from the manufacturing industry.At the same time,China’s employment market is also facing structural contradictions such as insufficient supply of highly skilled workers and difficulties in career conversion and employment matching for medium to low skilled workers.(4)The development of the digital economy has promoted the improvement of employment quality from multiple dimensions such as employment income,employment ability,and employment environment.However,there are still problems such as widening income disparities and insufficient protection for new forms of employment.The advantages of digital economy development for employment quality are as follows: firstly,it enhances social productivity,promotes economic growth,and drives the overall improvement of social welfare and worker income;Secondly,the development of the digital economy provides a more convenient learning channel at the technical level,which is conducive to accelerating workers’ mastery of digital knowledge and skills,improving their human capital level,and enhancing their employability;Third,the Platform economy has given birth to new forms of employment,providing flexible and diverse working methods and working environments.At the same time,the powerful data processing capabilities of the digital platform have improved the efficiency of matching supply and demand in the employment market and optimized the job-hunting environment.The disadvantages to the quality of employment are manifested in the following aspects: firstly,the skill premium caused by skill bias and human capital differences may exacerbate individual income disparities and lead to income inequality;Secondly,although the emergence of new forms of employment has increased employment opportunities and income,there are some shortcomings and weaknesses,rights protection,and other aspects of the current new forms of employment,which pose certain challenges to high-quality employment under the influence of the digital economy.(5)Propose optimization suggestions to address the employment difficulties in the development of the digital economy.Overall,the development of the digital economy has had a positive impact on the scale,structure,and quality of employment,but it still faces some employment challenges.Firstly,the regional "digital divide" exacerbates employment imbalance;The second is that the biased characteristics of digital technology and differences in human capital cause income inequality;The third is the insufficient supply of highly skilled talents and the difficulty of labor employment transformation;Fourthly,the identification and management of labor relations among new forms of employment are vague;Fifth,the employment stability and employment security of workers in the digital era are insufficient.Currently,in order to achieve more comprehensive and high-quality employment,it is necessary to take advantage of the digital economy as an opportunity,release the employment potential of digital economy development through policy guidance,and smooth out regional and structured employment contradictions.Specifically,the following countermeasures and suggestions are proposed: firstly,to expand and strengthen the digital economy,and to amplify its role in promoting employment;The second is to bridge the regional "digital divide" and alleviate employment imbalance;Thirdly,reform the education and training system to address structural contradictions in employment;Fourthly,explore new types of labor relations and promote the sustainable development of new forms of employment;The fifth is to improve the social security system and stabilize the quality of labor and employment.There are three main innovations in this thesis:Firstly,based on Marxist economic theory,a theoretical analysis framework for the impact of digital economy development on labor employment has been constructed.Currently,scholars have only explored the impact of digital technology progress on the number or structure of employment around the job market,but there is still a lack of complete consideration of the essence of digital economy development and its impact on employment scale,employment structure,and employment quality.In addition,existing research has mainly been guided by Western economic theories to explain the employment phenomenon under the influence of the digital economy,but there is a lack of relatively complete and logical internal mechanism analysis.In view of this,this thesis uses the Marxist analytical paradigm of "concrete abstract concrete",adheres to the principles of comprehensive coordination,progressive hierarchy,and Unity of opposites,and constructs a theoretical analysis framework of employment scale,employment structure,and employment quality,which includes three levels: the basic level,the mechanism level,and the result level.The theoretical analysis framework of the impact of digital economy development on labor employment has been logically deconstructed from the whole to the structure,from quantity to quality,and from phenomenon to essence,forming a more in-depth and detailed knowledge system.This framework provides us with a clear understanding of the internal mechanisms behind the impact of digital economy development on labor employment,showcasing the positive and negative impacts of digital economy development on labor employment.It is convenient for Chinese economic and social managers to use this as a basis to improve digital economy development and employment policies,optimize the operational status of digital economy development,avoid potential negative employment impacts,and ensure the achievement of more comprehensive and high-quality employment goals.Secondly,incorporate the quality of employment into the research scope.Previous studies have mostly focused on the employment effects of digital economy development based on the quantity and structure of employment,but few have focused on the quality of employment.On the one hand,the quantity,structure,quality of employment are three aspects that comprehensively reflect the employment status of workers.Without one of them,it cannot fully reflect the employment status of workers.On the other hand,bringing employment quality into the research scope also reflects the development thought of "people centered" in the Socialist market economy.The development of digital economy is not only to seek economic growth and social wealth accumulation,but also to accelerate high-quality economic development and Common prosperity of all people.Therefore,we must pay attention to the employment quality in the context.Therefore,incorporating the quality of employment into the research scope of labor employment is beneficial for achieving fuller and higher quality employment through the development of the digital economy.In addition,this thesis also constructs an employment quality development index from four dimensions: employment income,employment environment,employment ability and labor protection,in order to better conduct empirical testing.Thirdly,we examined the impact of digital economy development on labor employment from different dimensions and regions,and explored its intermediary mechanisms.The current mainstream literature mainly describes the digital economy from a certain digital technology(such as industrial robots,artificial intelligence)or the digital economy index as a whole.In empirical testing,there are still few literature that examines the dimensions of the digital economy itself.This thesis not only empirically examines the impact of the digital economy as a whole on employment,but also specifically examines the impact of digital industrialization and industrial digitization on employment,respectively.This thesis conducted regional heterogeneity tests in the eastern,central,and western regions,enriching the scope of the impact of digital economy development on labor employment.In addition,this thesis finds three mechanisms which influence employment.