ESG Rating Divergence and Corporate Labor Employment
Enterprises are the main force in absorbing employment.However,ESG rating divergence has led to uncertainty in the future sustainable development of enterprises,which may have an im-pact on their labor employment decisions.This paper uses a sample of A-share listed companies in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2015 to 2022,and finds that ESG rating diver-gence inhibit corporate labor employment.Mechanism tests find that ESG rating divergence not only increases financing constraints and operational risks for enterprises on the labor demand side,but also damages information transparency and reputation of enterprises on the labor supply side,reduces attractiveness to labor force,and thus suppresses the scale of labor employment.Heteroge-neity analysis finds that the effect of ESG rating divergence on firm employment mainly exists in non-state-owned enterprises,small-scale enterprises,enterprises with shorter listing years,and en-terprises in heavily polluting industries.Further research indicates that ESG rating divergence can also affect a company's human capital structure,leading enterprises to hire more high-skilled em-ployees and less low-skilled employees.In addition,ESG rating divergence also prompts companies to pay high salaries to increase their attractiveness to highly skilled talents.This study enriches the relevant literature on the economic consequences of ESG rating divergence and the influencing fac-tors of labor employment,and has important implications for standardizing ESG information disclo-sure and promoting high-quality and full employment.
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