互联网使用对城镇老年人再就业的影响——来自CLASS数据的证据

The Impact of Internet Use on Re-employment among Urban Older Adults:Evidence from CLASS Data

老年人再就业有助于发挥老年人口红利。本文使用2018年中国老年社会追踪调查(CLASS)数据,考察了互联网使用对城镇老年人再就业的影响。结果显示,互联网的使用促进了城镇老年人再就业,并且经过替换模型、替换指标和替换数据等多种稳健性检验均成立。本文进一步使用工具变量法和处理效应模型缓解潜在的内生性问题后,结论依旧保持一致。机制分析表明,使用互联网可以通过提高城镇老年人的健康、认知能力和非认知能力等人力资本水平、社会网络等社会资本水平,以及拓宽信息渠道促进老年人再就业。异质性分析表明,互联网的使用对于受教育程度较低、子女数量较多、家庭总收入较低和没有养老金的城镇老年人群体表现出更积极的影响。此外,受到不同的互联网设备和其使用的熟练程度不同的影响,互联网使用对城镇老年人再就业的影响也存在异质性。本文建议着力消除老年人面临的数字鸿沟,积极推进互联网的使用,提高再就业,充分发挥老年人口红利。

Re-employment of older adults can generate demographic dividend of these people.Using data of the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey(CLASS),this paper investigates the impact of internet use on re-employment among urban older adults.The results find that the internet use significantly helps the re-employment of urban older adults,and the effect is robust under multiple robustness checks and after corecting potential endogenous problems.Mechanism analysis indicates that the internet use improves human capital,social capital and information channels of the older adults.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of internet use is significantly stronger among those with lower education,more children,lower household income,and no pension.In addition,different internet devices and proficiency of using devices also play a significant role in creating heterogeneity.Overall,eliminating the digital divide and promoting the internet use among the urban older adults could actively promote re-employment.