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

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.