Why Does Labor Flow Bring High Returns?Analysis on the Development of Industrial Intelligence in the Inflow Area
Does labor flow necessarily lead to high returns?Theoretically,labor flow is a self-selection process akin to"voting with one's feet".Laborers are likely to relocate only if their expected income exceeds the costs of moving,making high returns a probable outcome of mobility.However,with the rapid advancements in the new wave of technological revolutions,exemplified by artificial intelligence,the substitution and complementary effects caused by these technologies significantly influence labor flow behaviors and the associated benefits.In this context,can labor flow still guarantee high returns?If so,how are these returns achieved.And does the duration of mobility play a role?To address these questions,this paper uses the data of China Migrants Dynamic Survey to investigate the impact and mechanism of urban industrial intelligence development on the wage income of the labor flowing into the city.Additionally,the paper categorizes migrant laborers into two groups—long-term migrant laborers and short-term migrant laborers—based on differences in mobility duration and analyzes the differential impacts of industrial intelligence on these groups.The findings reveal that the development of industrial intelligence in cities significantly increases the wage income of migrating laborers,confirming that labor flow indeed leads to higher returns.However,this impact varies significantly between long-term and short-term migrant laborers.Compared to short-term migrant laborers,the wage-enhancing effect of urban industrial intelligence development is more pronounced for long-term migrant laborers.This indicates a time effect in the high returns from labor flow:the longer the duration of mobility,the greater the incremental returns.The mechanism analyses show that improvements in total factor productivity,labor efficiency,and technological innovation are the primary drivers behind the wage increase for laborers due to urban industrial intelligence.Additionally,occupational division and human capital transformation serve as the main mechanisms explaining the wage disparities between long-term and short-term migrant laborers.The heterogeneity analyses based on skill dimension,scale dimension and time dimension further support the rationality of the above mechanism.This research holds significant practical implications for understanding how to enhance worker compensation in the era of the industrial intelligence wave.Compared to existing studies,the marginal contributions of this paper are as follows:Firstly,there is limited and insufficiently systematic research on the impact of industrial intelligence on the wage income of migrant laborers.Migrant laborers not only enhance efficiency through cross-regional allocation but is also more sensitive to wage changes in the labor market.Focusing on migrant laborers as the subject of study offers comparative advantages in terms of market efficiency and wage sensitivity.By systematically examining the impact and mechanisms of urban industrial intelligence on migrant laborers'wage income using data of China Migrants Dynamic Survey,this paper provides a valuable supplement to the existing literature.Secondly,regarding the heterogeneity within the migrant labor groups,most existing studies focus on flow regions,overlooking the role of mobility duration in influencing wage income,particularly in the context of industrial intelligence impacting the labor market.Time is a critical factor for laborers to adapt to new environments,undergo skill transformation,and improve job matching.Therefore,This paper categorizes migrant laborers into two groups—long-term migrant laborers and short-term migrant laborers—based on mobility duration,and systematically analyzes the differential effects of urban industrial intelligence on the wage income of these groups,which is conducive to contributes to understanding the dynamic impact of industrial intelligence on the wage income of migrant laborers.Thirdly,while prior studies often fail to elevate heterogeneity analysis to the level of causal inference,this paper further clarifies and analyzes the mechanisms through which urban industrial intelligence affects the wage income of long-term and short-term migrant laborers.This perspective strengthens the causal inference regarding the impact of urban industrial intelligence on the wage income of migrant labor groups.
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