An Empirical Study On The Impact Of The Opening Of High-speed Rail On Employment In Counties

As one of the most important means of transportation in modern times,the impact of high-speed rail（high-speed rail）on regional economic development has been the focus of recent attention.In practice,local governments generally regard high-speed rail construction as an important tool to strengthen and reshape regional competitive advantages,and strive to lay out long-term local government priorities for high-speed rail projects.However,a large number of research literature has found that the opening of high-speed rail does not necessarily bring about regional economic growth,especially in areas with lagging development,and the opening of high-speed rail may trigger "aisle effect" and "siphon effect",resulting in the flow of production factors in these areas to economically developed areas,further weakening their competitiveness.As an important part of China’s economic map,the county economy is the carrier of urban economic radiation and rural economy,and also the core of rural revitalization.It is of great practical significance to explore whether the opening of the high-speed rail will contribute to the economic development of the county and the implementation of the national strategy of rural revitalization.In this paper,the impact of high-speed rail opening on the county economy is studied from the perspective of labor agglomeration and loss.Based on the existing research conclusions and experience,and based on the panel data of 1622 counties and 9732county-level cities across the country from 2013 to 2018,the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on the number of employed people in the county is empirically tested.The results of the study found that: First,the opening of high-speed rail can positively promote the improvement of the overall employment level of the county;secondly,the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on county employment has asymmetric characteristics,and the employment promotion effect on the county secondary industry is not obvious,but it can significantly promote the employment growth of the county tertiary industry;finally,the county employment effect of high-speed rail opening has spatial heterogeneity,and the opening of high-speed rail can significantly promote the improvement of employment levels in the eastern and western regions,and the role of promoting employment in counties in the central region is not obvious.In addition,based on the test of the employment effect of the high-speed rail in the three years after the opening,it is found that the intensity of the impact of the high-speed rail on the employment effect of the county increases with the continuation of time.These findings show that from the perspective of employment,the opening of high-speed rail has a positive effect on the agglomeration of county production factors,through the labor agglomeration channel,high-speed rail construction is conducive to the long-term growth of the county economy,local governments around the layout of high-speed rail projects to carry out competition is rational,the state emphasizes the construction of transportation infrastructure first,by 2035 more than 500,000 people to achieve high-speed rail access planning implementation is of great significance to regional coordinated development.However,the research results also show that the employment effect of the county opened by the high-speed rail is also affected by other multiple factors,and the county economy must further optimize the business environment to give full play to the agglomeration role of the elements of high-speed rail construction.