| Employment is of Paramount importance to people’s livelihood.In order to achieve fuller and higher quality employment and strive for common prosperity,the government has always attached great importance to the issue of employment in rural areas and has repeatedly emphasized the priority and stability of employment.The No.1 Document of the Central Committee in 2023 has made important arrangements to stabilize the employment of farmers.We should implement various bailout policies to stabilize the employment,improve the employment skills of the rural labor force and create employment opportunities.The employment situation of rural labor is complex.From the supply side,there is labor surplus in rural areas.The employment of rural labor force is affected by regional,land policy,private endowment and other factors,which has low stability,limited choice space and low employment quality.Financial development has an employment effect,which can effectively promote the level of employment and stabilize the economic situation.As a new form of financial development,digital finance relying on the Internet and digital technology can provide convenient financial services at low cost to the whole society,especially rural areas,and provide equal development opportunities to rural residents who are vulnerable to financial exclusion.It has important contribution to promoting economic development,narrowing income gap,promoting innovation and entrepreneurship,stabilizing employment and transferring surplus labor force.By analyzing the mechanism of digital finance affecting the choice of rural labor employment,this paper explores whether the improvement of digital finance can promote the non-agricultural transfer of rural labor force,self-employment and formal employment,which is of great significance to improving the employment quality of rural labor force,encouraging local employment of labor force and facilitating the implementation of rural revitalization strategy.This paper reviews literature studies related to digital finance and rural labor employment,and analyzes the influence mechanism of digital finance on rural labor employment based on rural finance theory,labor employment theory and financial deepening theory.Based on 416 survey data of rural households in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province,A total of 19 indicators were selected from three dimensions: breadth,depth and satisfaction of digital finance.Coefficient of variation method and entropy method were used to determine the weight of each index,and the total index of digital finance and the index of each dimension were calculated to analyze the digital finance participation level and employment status of rural labor force.Probit model is used to empirically study the influence of digital finance on the employment field,employment type and employment regularity of rural labor force.The endogeneity and robustness of the model are tested by using IV Probit two-step estimation and replacement model method.Using the intermediary effect model,this paper empirically tests the influence of digital finance on employment choice through improving information availability and easing credit constraints,and puts forward relevant countermeasures and suggestions based on the research conclusions.The results show that:(1)The overall level of digital financial participation of rural labor force is not high.According to the total index of digital finance,the level of digital financial participation of rural labor in the sample areas is low and the gap is large,and the level of digital financial participation of more than half of the labor force is below the average.(2)Digital finance can promote the rural labor force to choose non-agricultural employment,selfemployment and formal employment.It can help transfer the surplus labor force in rural areas,relieve the employment pressure of rural labor force,and improve the stability and security of rural labor force employment.(3)Digital finance affects employment choice by improving the information availability of rural labor force.The improvement of digital finance level is accompanied by the increase of labor’s attention to economic and financial information,which improves the degree of information acquisition of labor force,helps them integrate information,grasp market and policy dynamics,and realize the transfer of non-agricultural employment.Meanwhile,the improvement of information availability is more conducive to their search for entrepreneurship and control of the direction of self-employment.(4)Digital finance affects employment choice by easing credit constraints of rural labor force.The improvement of digital finance level can ease credit constraints,provide financial support for rural labor to improve their employability and pay various costs in the employment process,and help realize non-agricultural transfer of rural labor force.By solving the capital constraint problem of rural labor force,digital finance provides start-up capital for rural labor force,expands income channels,and makes it easier for labor force to choose self-employment and become selfemployed or entrepreneurs.According to the research conclusions,this paper makes the following policy recommendations:(1)strengthen the publicity of digital financial knowledge,improve the financial knowledge level of rural labor and the acceptance and use of digital finance;(2)Accelerate the expansion and depth of digital financial services in rural areas,lower the financing threshold of rural labor force,and ease the credit constraints of rural labor force;(3)Establish an information sharing platform to create diversified employment areas for rural labor force and provide more employment options.We will build county employment and entrepreneurship information platforms,develop industries with local characteristics,and encourage young people to start businesses in their hometowns.(4)Improve the security of financial products so that more rural residents can enjoy the fruits of digital financial development without any concerns. |
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