Research On The Impact Of Environmental Regulation On Employment In China

During the 40 years of reform and opening up,China has created the speed of economic growth,and China has become the world's second largest economy after the United States.However,The extensive method of economic growth has also brought about serious environmental pollution,posing a serious threat to public health and economic development.Therefore,solving environmental problems has become an important challenge for China.The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the idea of building a beautiful modern socialist country,The problemes of the ecological environment have risen to the national development strategy.Under the supervision of environmental protection,the central government and local governments of all levels have attached great importance to environmental problems.A large number of polluting enterprises have been shut down.However,some negative effects and social problems have also been brought about,such as the employment problem caused by the one-size-fits-all closing and stopping the operation.Whether improving the level of environmental regulation can not reduce employment,but on the contrary promote employment and optimize the employment structure at the same time has become a practical issue to be considered.Straighting out the direction and path of the in fluence of environmental regulation on employment is conducive to fundamentally solving the problem of environmental and structural unemployment.As to the impact of environmental regulation on employment,scholars have conducted a large number of studies by constructing different mathematical models and empirical models,but the research results are different,some are even quite opposite.The research focuses on the total quantity of employment and seldom involves the employment structure.The impact of environmental regulation on employment should include both quantity and structural aspects.In addition,the definition of environmental regulation is mainly from the perspective of government,which cannot cover the environmental protection amongst the general public.On the basis of previous studies,this paper attempts to answer three questions first of all,whether environmental regulation reduces or promotes employment and how it affects employment;Secondly,the impact of environmental regulation on employment structure and its path;Thirdly,the influence degree of formal regulation and informal regulation on total quantity of employment and structure.In order to answer these three questions,this paper,on the basis of distinguishing formal environmental regulation from informal environmental regulation,uses panel data from 2007 to 2015 and such empirical research methods as mediation effect checking panel threshold regression,dynamic panel regression and static panel regression to draw the following conclusions:Firstly,from the perspective of the nationwide country,both formal and informal environmental regulations reduce the employment of primary and secondary industries and promote the employment of tertiary industry,optimizing the employment industrial structure and skill structure.Two types of environmental regulations on total quantity of employment and structure has the threshold effect.When the regulation intensity exceeds the threshold level,the formal environmental regulations will no longer promote employment,but play a stronger role in optimizing the employment structure.The promotion of informal environmental regulation on the total quantity of and structure of employment has been strengthened.The relationship between the two types of environmental regulations and the total quantity of employment is affected by the industrial structure and the relationship between the two types of environmental regulations and the employment structure is affected by the per capita GDP.Second,depending on the region,the impact of environmental regulation on the total employment and structure is characterized by strong east and west.In terms of the impact of two types of environmental regulation on the total employment,the promotion of formal environmental regulation is the strongest in the east,followed by the central region and the weakest in the west;the promotion of informal environmental regulation is the strongest in the east,the second in the central region,and the weakest in the west..When considering the impact of two types of environmental regulation on the employment industry structure,the promotion of formal environmental regulation is the strongest in the east,followed by the central and the weakest in the west;in the eastern and central regions,informal environmental regulation can optimize the employment industry structure in the west.The relationship between the two regions is not significant.When considering the impact of two types of environmental regulation on the employment skill structure,the promotion of formal environmental regulation is the largest in the central part,the second in the east,and the smallest in the west.The promotion of informal environmental regulation is the strongest in the east,the second in the middle,and the weakest in the west.Third,there are differences in the intensity of the impact of formal environmental regulation and informal environmental regulation on the total employment and structure.As for the impact of two types of environmental regulation on the total employment,the informal environmental regulation has a greater role in promoting.The formal environmental regulation has a greater inhibitory effect on employment through R&D and innovation.After examining the impact of two types of environmental regulation on the employment industry structure,it is found that Informal environmental regulation has a greater role in promoting the employment industry structure.Formal environmental regulation has a greater role in indirect promotion through R&D and innovation.In the impact of two types of environmental regulation on employment skill structure,formal environmental regulation promotes employment skill structure.Slightly strong,informal environmental regulation has a greater role in indirect promotion through R&D and innovation.When two types of environmental regulations are implemented together,the effect of promoting employment and optimizing the employment structure is stronger.Combined with the above conclusions,the policy recommendations of this paper are as follows:The government should combine formal environmental regulation and informal environmental regulation,increasing the regulatory role of taxes and fees and at the same time actively mobilize and guide the public to participate in environmental protection,raising the awareness of environmental protection amongst the general public.The government should implement differentiated environmental regulation policies according to local conditions,encouraging enterprises to save energy and reduce emissions through research and development,so as to inject new engines for China's economic development and achieve a win-win situation for both employment and the environment.We will make vigorous efforts to high-tech industries and the economy of urban agglomerations,upgrading the industrial structure,and keep economic development as the central task,and solve environmental problems on our way forward through development.