An Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Digital Economy On The US Employment Structure

With the development and application of digital technology,the role of digital economy in leading economic growth has become increasingly prominent and has become an important issue in the economic development of various countries.Among many issues,how digital economy affects employment has become one of the common concerns of academics and government departments.However,the existing literature mainly studies the impact of digital economy on the total employment,and there are few studies on the impact of digital economy on the employment structure,especially related studies on the employment gender structure and industrial distribution of employment.So,what impact does digital economy have on the labor market and workers?What paths does digital economy use to influence employment structure?What is the specific impact?The research of such questions has both theoretical and practical significance.As the American digital economy started early,with a high level of development,its impact on employment structure is more obvious.In view of this,this thesis conducts theoretical analysis and empirical test on the impact of the US digital economy on the employment skills structure,gender structure,and industrial distribution.By combining theoretical and empirical methods,the thesis intends to explore the impact of digital economy on the employment skills structure,gender structure and industrial distribution in the United States based on U.S.digital economy and employment data from 1997 to 2017.This thesis consists of five parts.Part I begins with briefing introduction,which introduces the background,issues,significance,methods,framework and innovation of the thesis.Part II is literature review,explaining the evolution of digital economy concept,comparing the advantages and disadvantages of different measurement methods of digital economy,and conducting theoretical and empirical research on the impact of digital economy on the total employment and employment structure.Part III mainly analyzes the path that digital economy influences the employment structure in the United States.The analysis results show that digital economy affects the total employment mainly by changing labor demand and improving labor market efficiency;promoting the employment rate of high-skilled laborers and low-skilled laborers by changing the organization's production methods and its own procedural bias,and reducing intermediate-skilled labors' employment rate;promoting the transfer of employment from the secondary industry to the tertiary industry mainly by promoting the independence of skilled workers and the digitalization of the industry;promoting women's employment by reducing retained wages and creating new employment models.Part IV is empirical research.Based on time series,the empirical research uses the vector autoregressive model and the vector error correction model to test the impact of digital economy on the employment structure of the United States.The results show:First,in the long run,digital economy will reduce the total employment,but the impact will be smaller than that of economic growth and capital investment.Second,digital economy effectively promotes the flow of employment from the secondary industry to the tertiary industry and promotes the development of the tertiary industry.Third,the role of digital economy is different for workers with different skill levels.In the short term,digital economy will have a certain negative effect on the employment of high-skilled and low-skilled labor,and it will be a stable promotion in the long run.Compared with other factors,the promotion effect of the digital economy is the most significant.For the medium-skilled labor force,digital economy generally shows a restraining effect,which is not conducive to the employment of middle-skilled laborers.Fourth,the impact of digital economy on women's employment is represented by the process of "promotion-inhibition-promotion",which has promoted women's employment in the long run and injected new vitality into the labor market.Part V summarizes the full text,and puts forward policy implications based on the research conclusions.Firstly,there are differences in the impact of the digital economy on employment at different skill levels.Therefore,new demands are placed on improving the vocational training system.Secondly,the impact of digital economy on employment industry distribution may trigger new employment gaps,making the government's trade protection of related industries a policy choice.Thirdly,to play the role of a new growth point for employment of digital economy,it needs the support of a sound policy and institutional environment.Fourthly,the government should improve the construction of communications infrastructure and accelerate the development of industrial digitization to reduce the possible negative impact of the digital economy on employment.Fifthly,digital economy has promoted independent employment and the development of SMEs,which are the main source of job creation.Therefore,the government should coordinate the planning of digital economy and the incentive policies for the development of SMEs.Lastly,digital economy has become an important support for protecting employment and people's livelihood in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.