| The digital economy is very important for China,and employment structure is a significant factor affecting economic growth,so the relationship between them is very close.The number of the old people is getting bigger and bigger and the digital economy is developing rapidly,adjusting the employment structure is very necessary for China’s economic development.New opportunities for employment increase because of the development of the digital economy,but it also brings enormous challenges.Therefore,searching for the impact of the development of the digital economy on the employment structure has very meaningful implications.Based on the connotation of digital economy and using five indicators including the popularity of the Internet,the status of related professionals,the output of related industries,the number of mobile Internet users,and the development of digital financial inclusion,this paper constructs a evaluation index system to evaluate the digital economy development level of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020,considering its impact on employment structure.Firstly,an individual fixed-effect model is established to analyze the impact of digital economy on total employment,employment structure,and employment skill structure.Then,regional heterogeneity and gender heterogeneity analysis are conducted to explore the impact in different regions and different genders.After that,we use the Malmquist index method to get the technical progress index and explore the intermediary effect of digital economy on employment structure.Furthermore,the digital economy is chose to be the threshold variable,and using a panel threshold regression model to explore the nonlinear relationship between the digital economy and employment structure.Finally,using the spatial econometric distance matrix as the weight matrix,the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on employment structure is explored using the spatial Durbin model.Empirical results show that:(1)The improvement of digital economy development level provides people with more employment opportunities and significantly increases the relative proportion of high-skilled employment in China;(2)The impact of the digital economy development level on employment structure shows significant regional heterogeneity;compared with men,the digital economy significantly promotes the advanced employment structure of women;(3)The development of digital economy can indirectly affect the employment structure by affecting technological progress,leading to a trend of higher-level employment structure;(4)With the increase of the level of digital economy development,the promotion effect of the level of digital economy development on the relative proportion of high-skilled employment rate is enhanced;(5)The development of digital economy in the region promotes the upgrading of the employment structure in the region,but also inhibits the upgrading of the employment structure in neighboring regions.Based on the results of empirical analysis,the following recommendations are proposed:(1)Increase investment in education and raise the proportion of education expenditure in gross domestic product;(2)In promoting the development of information technology,relevant policies should pay attention to gender factors appropriately and provide support and encouragement for female employment;different regions need to carry out differentiated education system reform according to their own actual situation,and strengthen regional digital economy exchanges and cooperation,to build an open,shared,and win-win regional development pattern;(3)Encourage enterprises to actively introduce high-tech and strengthen independent research and development,and improve original innovation;(4)Actively optimize and upgrade digital infrastructure,vigorously develop the digital economy,and make it an important pillar of China’s economic development;(5)Narrow the gap in digital economy development between provinces,and encourage high-level digital economy development provinces to spread their advantageous technologies and advanced industries to surrounding areas. |
