The Effect of the Digital Economy on the Employment Structure in China

Abstract

The digital economy’s influence on society and the traditional economy is deepening, owing to the wide application of digital technology in production and life. The question of how the digital economy affects the employment structure has become a hot issue to discuss. To explore the impact of the digital economy on the labour structure, this paper selected China’s thirty-one provincial panel data between 2013 and 2020 and utilized the static panel model. On the whole, the proportion of employment in the secondary sector to the total employment rate is declining with the development of the digital economy. The proportion of employment in the tertiary sector to the total employment has increased due to enhancement in the degrees of development in the digital economy. From the perspective of different regions, in the eastern and middle part, improvement in the digital economy has reduced the proportion of employment in the primary sectors to the total employment rate while increasing the proportion of employment in the tertiary sector to the total employment rate and optimizing the industrial structure. Employment in the manufacturing and construction industries in the secondary sector is significantly negatively affected by the development of the digital economy. In addition, the mining industry and utility employment (Production and Supply of Gas, Heat, Water, and Electricity) are not significantly affected by the progress of the digital economy.