IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11682-d1205270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

China’s Digital Economy and Enterprise Labor Demand: The Mediating Effects of Green Technology Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Zhaoqing Sun

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Jianxu Liu

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Roengchai Tansuchat

    (Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand)

Abstract

In the context of the new revolution of science and technology, the digital economy not only exerts a significant and profound impact on the scale of enterprise labor demand, but also increasingly becomes a new engine driving green technology innovation in companies. In this paper, we use the micropanel data of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2011 to 2020 to assess the impact of the digital economy on the scale of enterprise labor demand and the role played by green technology innovation within it. The study finds that: (1) the digital economy significantly expands the labor demand of enterprises, with a more pronounced expansion effect observed at the lower and higher quantiles of the labor demand scale. (2) Green technology innovation can exert a significant intermediary effect between the digital economy and the scale of enterprise labor demand. (3) There is significant heterogeneity in the impact of the digital economy on the labor demand of enterprises and the mediating effect of green technology innovation. the expansion effect of the digital economy on the scale of labor demand is more pronounced in enterprises located in the western region and characterized by rapid industry technological changes in small-to-medium-sized companies, while the mediating effect of green technology innovation is more pronounced in enterprises located in the eastern region, characterized by slow industry technological changes in large-sized companies. (4) Among the segmented indicators of the digital economy, cloud computing technology, big data technology, and digital technology applications significantly expand the scale of enterprise labor demand. The empirical results of this paper have important theoretical and policy implications for understanding the role of the digital economy in promoting labor force employment and achieving green sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhaoqing Sun & Jianxu Liu & Roengchai Tansuchat, 2023. "China’s Digital Economy and Enterprise Labor Demand: The Mediating Effects of Green Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11682-:d:1205270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11682/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11682/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brent Neiman, 2014. "The Global Decline of the Labor Share," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 61-103.
    2. Qiong Wang & Yihan Wei, 2023. "Research on the Influence of Digital Economy on Technological Innovation: Evidence from Manufacturing Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Song, Malin & Xie, Qianjiao & Wang, Shuhong & Zhou, Li, 2021. "Intensity of environmental regulation and environmentally biased technology in the employment market," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Erumban, Abdul A. & Das, Deb Kusum, 2016. "Information and communication technology and economic growth in India," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 412-431.
    5. Songqin Zhao & Diyun Peng & Huwei Wen & Huilin Song, 2022. "Does the Digital Economy Promote Upgrading the Industrial Structure of Chinese Cities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.
    6. James Bessen, 2018. "AI and Jobs: the role of demand," NBER Working Papers 24235, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Naoko Nemoto & Bihong Huang & David Storey, 2019. "Optimal Regulation of P2P Lending for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," Working Papers id:12964, eSocialSciences.
    8. David Powell, 2020. "Quantile Treatment Effects in the Presence of Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(5), pages 994-1005, December.
    9. Jason Furman & Robert Seamans, 2019. "AI and the Economy," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 161-191.
    10. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    11. Long Xue & Qianyu Zhang & Xuemang Zhang & Chengyu Li, 2022. "Can Digital Transformation Promote Green Technology Innovation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    12. Carl Dahlman & Sam Mealy & Martin Wermelinger, 2016. "Harnessing the digital economy for developing countries," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 334, OECD Publishing.
    13. Matsuda,Norihiko & Ahmed,Tutan & Nomura,Shinsaku, 2019. "Labor Market Analysis Using Big Data : The Case of a Pakistani Online Job Portal," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9063, The World Bank.
    14. Sainan Cheng & Guohua Qu, 2023. "Research on the Effect of Digital Economy on Carbon Emissions under the Background of “Double Carbon”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-27, March.
    15. Decai Tang & Wenya Chen & Qian Zhang & Jianqun Zhang, 2023. "Impact of Digital Finance on Green Technology Innovation: The Mediating Effect of Financial Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    16. Young, Alwyn, 2014. "Structural transformation, the mismeasurement of productivity growth, and the cost disease of services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60213, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Nemoto, Naoko & Huang, Bihong & Storey, David, 2019. "Optimal Regulation of P2P Lending for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," ADBI Working Papers 912, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    18. Su, Chi-Wei & Yuan, Xi & Umar, Muhammad & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Does technological innovation bring destruction or creation to the labor market?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Wei Qian & Huan Liu & Fanghui Pan, 2022. "Digital Economy, Industry Heterogeneity, and Service Industry Resource Allocation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-18, June.
    20. Berthold Herrendorf & Richard Rogerson & ?kos Valentinyi, 2013. "Two Perspectives on Preferences and Structural Transformation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2752-2789, December.
    21. Alwyn Young, 2014. "Structural Transformation, the Mismeasurement of Productivity Growth, and the Cost Disease of Services," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3635-3667, November.
    22. Zhiqiang Zhou & Wenyan Liu & Pengfei Cheng & Zhenjin Li, 2022. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Enterprise Sustainable Development and Its Spatial-Temporal Evolution: An Empirical Analysis Based on Urban Panel Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, September.
    23. Jorgenson, Dale W. & Vu, Khuong M., 2016. "The ICT revolution, world economic growth, and policy issues," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 383-397.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gray, Elie & Grimaud, André & Le Bris, David, 2018. "The Farmer, the Blue-collar, and the Monk: Understanding economic development through saturations of demands and non-homothetic productivity gains," TSE Working Papers 18-906, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    2. Elie Gray & André Grimaud & David Le Bris, 2018. "The Farmer, the Blue-collar, and the Monk: Understanding Economic Development through Saturations of Demands and Non-Homothetic Productivity Gains," CESifo Working Paper Series 6970, CESifo.
    3. Chen, Chaoran, 2020. "Capital-skill complementarity, sectoral labor productivity, and structural transformation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    4. Zsófia L. Bárány & Christian Siegel, 2018. "Job Polarization and Structural Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 57-89, January.
    5. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/30j1vvprab87kpl0hore4b2sv1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Marcolino, Marcos, 2022. "Accounting for structural transformation in the U.S," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Naude, Wim, 2019. "The race against the robots and the fallacy of the giant cheesecake: Immediate and imagined impacts of artificial intelligence," MERIT Working Papers 2019-005, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Dazhong Cheng & Zhiguo Xiao, 2021. "Producer Services and Productivity: A Global Value Chain Perspective," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 418-444, June.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4he5e8ba3929rhrgcti3so9af is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Zsofia Barany & Christian Siegel, 2015. "Job Polarization and Structural Change," Working Papers hal-03459762, HAL.
    11. Pablo Casas & José L. Torres, 2023. "Automation, automatic capital returns, and the functional income distribution," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 113-135, January.
    12. Zsofia Barany & Christian Siegel, 2015. "Job Polarization and Structural Change," SciencePo Working papers hal-03459762, HAL.
    13. Genz, Sabrina & Schnabel, Claus, 2021. "Digging into the digital divide: Workers' exposure to digitalization and its consequences for individual employment," Discussion Papers 118, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    14. Berthold Herrendorf & Todd Schoellman, 2018. "Wages, Human Capital, and Barriers to Structural Transformation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, April.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/30j1vvprab87kpl0hore4b2sv1 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort & Kamga, Benjamin Fomba & Nchofoung, Tii N., 2023. "Information and communication technologies and employment in developing countries: Effects and transmission channels," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    17. Jiaoning Zhang & Xiaoyu Ma & Jiamin Liu, 2022. "How Can the Digital Economy and Human Capital Improve City Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Chen, Chuanglian & Wang, Shudan & Yao, Shujie & Lin, Yuting, 2023. "Does digital transformation increase the labor income share? From a perspective of resources reallocation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Qian, Cheng & Zhu, Chun & Huang, Duen-Huang & Zhang, Shangfeng, 2023. "Examining the influence mechanism of artificial intelligence development on labor income share through numerical simulations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    20. Arvai, Kai & Mann, Katja, 2022. "Consumption Inequality in the Digital Age," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264001, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4t83lre9hm91sq006n4940n19s is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Lingzhang Kong & Jinye Li, 2022. "Digital Economy Development and Green Economic Efficiency: Evidence from Province-Level Empirical Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-26, December.
    23. Basso, Henrique S. & Jimeno, Juan F., 2021. "From secular stagnation to robocalypse? Implications of demographic and technological changes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 833-847.
    24. Kyoji Fukao & Cristiano Perugini, 2021. "The Long‐Run Dynamics of the Labor Share in Japan," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 445-480, June.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11682-:d:1205270. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.