How Does Digital Transformation Affect Labor Skill Premium:An Empirical Study on A-share Listed Enterprises
The transformation of development mode and the promotion of digital transformation are the key points of the government's future work,reducing the impact of skill premium and balancing income distribution are also necessary for achieving the Chinese path to modernization.In this context,exploring how digital transformation empowers high-quality development of enterprises and how it affects change in labor skill premium has become an urgent issue of concern for all sectors of society.This article analyzes the theoretical foundation of whether digital transformation triggers changes in labor skill premium and its mechanism.We also use the data of Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020 to empirically examine the impact of digital transformation on labor skill premium and its mechanism.Furthermore,we further discuss the actual impact of digital transformation on the productivity and labor skill premium under the capital-skill complementarity relationship.The results reveal that,first,digital transformation can significantly increase the labor skill premium,with this effect being more prominent in non-state owned enterprises,capital-technology-intensive industries,regions with more developed digital infrastructure and the digital transformation of substrate applications.Second,technological change triggered by digital transformation is high-skill-biased,and digital transformation can increase the labor skill premium by promoting skill-biased technological change and increasing the relative demand for high-skilled workers.However,the decrease in the relative demand for low-skilled workers is reflected in the"skill crowding out"of low-skilled workers by high-skilled workers.Finally,under the real condition of the capital-skill complementarity relationship,enterprises'digital transformation accumulates digital intangible capital,which helps to enhance the contribution of high-skilled workers to the productivity and labor output of enterprises.This indicates that digital intangible capital has stronger complementarity with high-skilled workers,leading to the phenomenon of"skill crowding out"and triggering the labor skill premium.This study contributes to the existing literature in the following three aspects:First,from a micro perspective,the impact of digital transformation on the labor skill premium is examined,filling an important research gap in this field.Second,this study introduces the characteristics of digital transformation technology in the production function,theoretically interpreting the mechanism of the impact of digital transformation on the labor skill premium.It clarifies that digital transformation not only directly enhances labor skill premium through skill-biased technological change but also indirectly enhances the labor skill premium by affecting the relative demand for high-skilled workers through the channel of skill-biased technological change.Third,the underlying reasons for the relative decrease in demand for low-skilled workers in enterprises and the deep phenomenon of the impact of digital transformation on labor skill premium are further explained.It has provided policy implications for the government to address the main points in the process of digital transformation.This article provides useful insights for the government to promote enterprises'digital transformation and form a reasonable and orderly income distribution pattern.First,the relationship between the rise of labor skill premium and income inequality should be properly understood to promote the formation of a reasonable and orderly income distribution pattern.For example,by improving the minimum wage system and timely adjusting and increasing the minimum wage standard according to the economic development situation,the direct impact of labor skill premium can be reduced.Second,local governments should accelerate the investment and construction of digital infrastructure and further guide enterprises'digital transformation.Enterprises should also make full use of the existing digital infrastructure to build their own digital technology innovation and application mechanism,empowering high-quality development.Third,in the long run,the government should improve the quality of labor supply as one of the main directions,fully utilizing the complementarity between digital capital and human capital.Policy support should be given to enterprises to establish a training and upgrading mechanism for low-skilled workers to alleviate the structural unemployment problem that may arise during the digital transformation process.
Digital TransformationSkill PremiumSkill-biased Technological ChangeCapital-skill ComplementaritySkill Crowding Out
万方数据
