IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v89y2024ipap17-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital finance and labor demand of manufacturing enterprises: Theoretical mechanism and heterogeneity analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Rui
  • Shen, Chen
  • Guo, Yiyang

Abstract

With the new situations and new changes in the employment market in the new era, digital finance must highlight the employment-first policy in promoting high-quality economic development and enhancing targeted services for employment with financial resources. Based on the panel data of 298 prefecture-level cities in China from 2014 to 2019, and the big data on labor demand of manufacturing enterprises from Zhaopin as samples, this paper analyzes the impact of digital finance on the scale and structure of labor demand in China's manufacturing enterprises from the perspectives of theoretical logic and empirical evidence. The mechanism of action and the influence of heterogeneity are also systematically analyzed. Conclusions are drawn based on the research: Firstly, the development of digital finance can significantly and effectively promote the labor demand of manufacturing enterprises. Digital finance affects the scale of labor demand through financing constraints, and affects the structure of labor demand through operating costs, with positive effects on high-skilled labor demand. Secondly, considering the differences at the industry level and the city level, digital finance has a more significant role in improving the labor demand of enterprises in highly financial-dependent and technology-intensive industries and enterprises in small cities. Thirdly, compared with large and medium-sized enterprises and listed enterprises, small and micro-enterprises and non-listed enterprises are more likely to expand their labor demand thanks to the development of digital finance. Fourthly, digital finance is more conducive to promoting employment and increasing corporate demand for people who receive higher education, have no work experience, and apply for financial management positions. The conclusions are of great implications for us to give full play to the power of digital finance to eliminate impediments in the development of enterprises and increase support for them to stabilize and expand employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Rui & Shen, Chen & Guo, Yiyang, 2024. "Digital finance and labor demand of manufacturing enterprises: Theoretical mechanism and heterogeneity analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 17-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:17-32
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.07.065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056023002733
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.07.065?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reyes Aterido & Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Carmen Pagés, 2011. "Big Constraints to Small Firms' Growth? Business Environment and Employment Growth across Firms," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 609-647.
    2. Luo, Yu & Peng, Yuchao & Zeng, Lianyun, 2021. "Digital financial capability and entrepreneurial performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 55-74.
    3. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    4. Marco Pagano & Giovanni Pica, 2012. "Finance and employment [Credit constraints as a barrier to the entry and post-entry growth of firms]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 27(69), pages 5-55.
    5. Peter Kuhn & Kailing Shen, 2015. "Do employers prefer migrant workers? Evidence from a Chinese job board," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, December.
    6. Zhiqiang Lu & Junjie Wu & Hongyu Li & Duc Khuong Nguyen, 2022. "Local Bank, Digital Financial Inclusion and SME Financing Constraints: Empirical Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(6), pages 1712-1725, May.
    7. Yan, Bin & Wang, Feng & Chen, Tian & Liu, Siyu & Bai, Xiaoxuan, 2023. "Digital finance, environmental regulation and emission reduction in manufacturing industry: New evidence incorporating dynamic spatial-temporal correlation and competition," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 750-763.
    8. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    9. repec:bla:ecpoli:v:27:y:2012:i:69:p:5-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:27:y:2012:i:69:p:5-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Miriam Bruhn & Inessa Love, 2014. "The Real Impact of Improved Access to Finance: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 1347-1376, June.
    12. Robert C. Merton, 1992. "Financial Innovation And Economic Performance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 4(4), pages 12-22, January.
    13. Cheng, Yiran & Zhou, Xiaorui & Li, Yongjian, 2023. "The effect of digital transformation on real economy enterprises’ total factor productivity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 488-501.
    14. Lu, Jing & Xiao, Qinglan & Wang, Taoxuan, 2023. "Does the digital economy generate a gender dividend for female employment? Evidence from China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meng Cai, 2025. "Transforming Trade and Environment: Digital Trade's Impact on Carbon Emissions in the European Union," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 570-583, March.
    2. Yang, Yang & Xiao, Zheng, 2024. "Examining the interaction effect of digitalization and highly educated employees on ambidextrous innovation in Chinese publicly listed SMEs: A knowledge-based view," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Huang, Meiying & Li, Quan & Li, Bowen, 2025. "From algorithms to green growth: Can artificial intelligence drive enterprise energy transformation?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1846-1866.
    4. Peng, Jia-Hui & Wang, Ke-Liang & Cheng, Yun-He & Miao, Zhuang, 2024. "How does digital inclusive finance affect energy justice? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    5. Yang, Xiaolan & Zhang, Lele & Hong, Xiaoyue & Li, Wenchao, 2024. "Can digital financial inclusion facilitate intergenerational income mobility? Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 951-962.
    6. Qin, Shuyuan & Liu, Ziqi & Wang, Jie & Wu, Yongqiu, 2024. "The impact of digital transformation on labour demand quantity and structure: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1452-1469.
    7. Guo, Bingnan & Feng, Weizhe & Lin, Ji, 2024. "The impact of green finance on labor income share: Evidence from green finance reform and innovation pilot zone," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1347-1358.
    8. Yang, Yuhan & Zhang, Chong & Liu, Baoliu & Huang, Yujie & Tai, Yafei, 2024. "Mystery of special government subsidies: How does digital transformation promote enterprise innovation and development?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-16.
    9. Zhao, Xiongfei & Li, Shuangjie, 2025. "Artificial intelligence and public environmental concern: Impacts on green innovation transformation in energy-intensive enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Qiao, Yuxuan & Ao, Xugao, 2024. "Digital transformation and rural labour force occupational mobility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 42-50.
    11. Zhu Yan & Jing Jian Xiao & Qiong Sun, 2024. "Moving up toward sustainable development: Digital finance and income mobility," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 5742-5763, October.
    12. Lian, Hanyu, 2024. "Financial leasing and enterprise innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Yu, Di & Zhu, Yongyi, 2025. "Executives with digital backgrounds and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pang, Si Lu & Liu, Hui & Hua, Gui Hong, 2024. "How does digital finance drive the green economic growth? New discoveries of spatial threshold effect and attenuation possibility boundary," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 561-581.
    2. Meghana Ayyagari & Pedro Juarros & Maria Soledad Martinez Peria & Sandeep Singh, 2021. "Access to Finance and Job Growth: Firm-Level Evidence across Developing Countries [Big constraints to small firms’ growth? Business environment and employment growth across firms]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(5), pages 1473-1496.
    3. Meghana Ayyagari & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2017. "What Determines Entrepreneurial Outcomes in Emerging Markets? The Role of Initial Conditions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2478-2522.
    4. Li, Lin & Xia, Qinqin & Du, Minzhe, 2024. "Regional banks, financing constraints and manufacturing enterprises' total factor productivity: A quasi-natural experiment of China's city commercial banks," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1652-1669.
    5. Lo Turco, Alessia & Maggioni, Daniela & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2019. "Financial dependence and growth: The role of input-output linkages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 308-328.
    6. N'dri, Lasme Mathieu & Kakinaka, Makoto, 2020. "Financial inclusion, mobile money, and individual welfare: The case of Burkina Faso," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    7. Keming Li, 2021. "The effect of option trading," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, December.
    8. Agarwal, Natasha & Milner, Chris & Riaño, Alejandro, 2014. "Credit constraints and spillovers from foreign firms in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 261-275.
    9. Didier, Tatiana & Levine, Ross & Llovet Montanes, Ruth & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2021. "Capital market financing and firm growth," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    10. Marco Pagano, 2013. "Finance: Economic Lifeblood or Toxin?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Viral V Acharya & Thorsten Beck & Douglas D Evanoff & George G Kaufman & Richard Portes (ed.), The Social Value of the Financial Sector Too Big to Fail or Just Too Big?, chapter 8, pages 109-146, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Pu Liu & Yingying Shao, 2022. "Innovation and new business formation: the role of innovative large firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 691-720, August.
    12. Madeira, Carlos, 2024. "The impact of macroprudential policies on industrial growth," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Abhay Aneja & Nirupama Kulkarni & S. K. Ritadhi, 2021. "Consumption Tax Reform and the Real Economy: Evidence From India's Adoption of a Value‐Added Tax," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 569-602, September.
    14. Yang, Bao & Chou, Hsin-I. & Zhao, Jing, 2020. "Innovation or dividend payout: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 180-203.
    15. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Vincenzo Pezone, 2023. "The Real Effects of Judicial Enforcement," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 889-933.
    17. Popov, Alexander, 2014. "Credit constraints and investment in human capital: Training evidence from transition economies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 76-100.
    18. Laeven, Luc & McAdam, Peter & Popov, Alexander, 2023. "Credit shocks, employment protection, and growth:firm-level evidence from spain," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    19. Julia Fonseca & Bernardus Van Doornik, 2020. "Financial Development and Labor Markets: evidence from Brazil," Working Papers Series 532, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    20. Wang, Yuyu & Zhao, Zengli & Lu, Chen, 2024. "Does digital inclusive finance increase land rent? Evidence from rural China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1025-1043.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:17-32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.