The Impact Of Digital Inclusive Finance On The Income Of Young Flexible Workers

For the past few years,digital inclusive finance has become an emerging financial model.It not only provides a more convenient and efficient financial service for traditional banks and micro and small enterprises,but also brings some new opportunities for young flexible job seekers.With the help of digital inclusive finance,young flexi-employed people can apply,approve and use loans online,avoiding the valuable time and labor intensive steps required by traditional banks and micro and small business financial institutions.In addition,digital inclusive finance can also help young flexible workers to apply,approve and use loans"without walls" through emerging technologies such as big data analysis,artificial intelligence and blockchain.Therefore,digital inclusive finance can not only significantly reduce the time and human and material resources spent on loan application,approval and utilization,but also significantly promote the entrepreneurial and innovative ability of young flexible workers,and bring significant three-dimensional,diversified and comprehensive employment opportunities.Combining the relevant literature from scholars at home and abroad,this paper first clarifies the scope boundary between flexible employment and digital inclusive finance,explores the ways in which digital inclusive finance affects residents’ income,and lists other factors that affect the income of flexibly employed people.It then dissects the current situation of flexible employment groups in China,as well as the reasons and concerns of young people choosing flexible employment,to lay the foundation for the subsequent study.In the empirical part,the results of the responses to the three-year CFPS questionnaire involving the income of flexibly employed people and their own characteristics are empirically analyzed using OLS models using the digital financial inclusion index and Baidu search index scores for each province in China for three years in 2016,2018 and 2020.According to the empirical findings,the development of digital inclusive finance significantly contributes to the income of the flexibly employed in China,both from the perspective of PKU-DFIIC and Baidu search index.In addition,all three sub-indices have a significant contribution to the income of the flexibly employed,with the breadth of coverage having the strongest ability to influence the income of the flexibly employed.This paper mitigates the endogeneity problem by using lagged period variables and instrumental variables approach.The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the income of urban domiciled,female flexible workers is more significantly affected by the positive effect of digital financial inclusion.The model robustness was tested by constructing a micro financial inclusion index using 2017 CHFS data,and the results remained significant.The mechanism analysis finds that digital inclusive finance can positively affect the income of flexibly employed people by boosting the development of micro and small enterprises,alleviating household financial vulnerability,and reducing financial exclusion.Based on the analysis results of the article,it is recommended to pay attention to the development of micro and small enterprises and improve the protection of the rights and interests of the flexibly employed;improve financial inclusion so that individuals will not be excluded from the financial system due to their own endowments;and pay attention to the financial situation of the flexibly employed’s family and reduce the degree of financial vulnerability of the family in three aspects to improve the development of digital inclusive finance and help the flexibly employed earn higher income.