环境规制与企业劳动雇佣——基于新《环保法》实施的准自然实验

Environmental regulation and corporate employment:a quasi-natural experiment on the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law

明确环境规制与企业劳动雇佣的关系对实现改善环境和稳就业的双重目标有重要意义。将2015年新《环保法》实施作为一项准自然实验,基于2011—2019年沪深两市A股制造业上市公司数据,运用双重差分法评估了新《环保法》实施对企业劳动雇佣的影响。研究发现:(1)新《环保法》实施显著降低了重污染企业劳动雇佣规模,且具有持续性效果。分岗位看,新《环保法》实施对生产和经营人员的影响相对较大,对技术人员的影响相对较小。(2)新《环保法》实施主要通过产出效应和要素替代效应降低企业劳动雇佣规模。具体来说,新《环保法》实施通过在短期内降低企业产出、在长期中增加企业减排和技术改进的投资,降低了企业劳动雇佣规模,尤其降低了企业生产人员和经营人员的雇佣规模。(3)异质性分析表明,新《环保法》实施对企业劳动雇佣的负面冲击在民营企业、年轻企业和环境执法力度较强地区企业中更显著,在国有企业和外资企业、成熟企业以及执法力度较弱地区企业中不显著。研究结论可为政府在经济绿色转型过程中平衡环境治理和稳定就业之间的关系,进而实现经济高质量发展提供借鉴。

Clarifying the relationship between environmental regulation and corporate employment decisions is of great importance in achieving the dual goals of improving the environment and stabilizing employment.Using a sample of A-share manufacturing listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2011 to 2019,this paper studies the impact of the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law in 2015 on corporate employment using the difference-indifferences(DID)method.The results show that:(1)The implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law significantly reduces labor employment in heavily polluting corporations,and this policy effect persists over time.Concerning job positions,the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law has a relatively large impact on the employment of production and business employees,and a relatively small impact on the employment of technical employees.(2)The implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law reduces employment scale of corporations through two channels:the output effect and the factor substitution effect.Specifically,the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law reduces corporate employment,especially production and business personnel,by reducing enterprise output in the short term and increasing enterprise investment in emissions reduction and technological advancement in the long term.(3)Heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative impact of the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law on corporate employment is significant for private corporations,young corporations,and corporations situated in regions with robust environmental enforcement.In contrast,it is not significant for state-owned corporations and foreign-funded corporations,mature corporations and corporations in regions with weaker enforcement.These findings could offer insights for the government to balance the relationship between environmental governance and stable employment during the green economic transformation process,ultimately leading to the achievement of high-quality economic growth.