Research On The Influence Of New-generation Labor Supply Changes On Export Product Quality Of Enterprises

Abundant workforce and low labor costs once bolstered the rapid growth of China’s export,making it the world’s largest trading nation in as early as 2013.Now it has embarked on a new journey to evolve from a mere trading country to a trading powerhouse.However,as China’s marriage and fertility rates continue to hit new lows,along with worsening population aging,problems such as labor shortages and rising labor costs are becoming increasingly acute,posing great uncertainty to export upgrading.In addition,that uncertainty is exacerbated by escalated trade frictions and the COVID-19 pandemic.At the same time,a series of economic,demographic and educational policies have introduced a wealth of changes to the quantity and quality of the new generation of labor force,which is now the backbone of China’s workforce.All these bring us to the question of how to improve export quality under these new shifts,so as to enhance China’s core competitiveness in international trade,and turn China from a large trader to a trading power.In this context,an in-depth study of the impact of new-generation labor supply changes on export quality is of paramount significance to boost China’s export quality and trading clout.From the perspective of "efficiency wage" effect and labor productivity,this paper analyzes how the change in new-generation labor supply weighs on the quality of export products.It runs empirical tests to assess that impact by leveraging relevant data and models of fixed effect and intermediary effect.The empirical study shows that decline of new-generation labor supply pushes up export quality,and that improved labor supply quality inhibits export quality.This-conclusion remains true after the robustness test and the endogenous test.The impact mechanism test suggests that the fall in new-generation labor supply leads to a rise in labor costs,and that export quality can be promoted through the path of efficiency wage effect,while enhanced labor quality hinders improvement of export quality through the path of labor productivity.Moreover,there is significant heterogeneity in terms of how labor supply change affects export quality between enterprises with different element density,location,and ownership.Taking into account the impact of labor supply change,the production difficulties brought by COVID-19,and new challenges in international trade,we put forward countermeasures and suggestions to steadily improve the export quality of Chinese enterprises.On the one hand,favorable policies are needed to help enterprises improve export quality.First,we should improve the effective supply of labor;second,the new-generation workforce should be guided to establish right sense of job selection;third,export structure should be optimized and upgraded;fourth,success need to be achieved in both epidemic prevention and control and the resumption of work and production.On the other hand,enterprises should take the initiative to improve product quality.First,we should introduce cultivate and retain talents to elevate product quality;second,management and technological innovation should be promoted to empower product quality upgrade;third,we should give full play to the comparative advantages of the new generation of labor to improve product quality.