“数智”还是“数滞”:数字化转型与非农就业

“Positive”or“Negative”:Digital Transformation and Non-agricultural Employment

数字乡村建设是推动乡村振兴的重要举措和新动能。基于人口流动理论和中国家庭金融调查数据,本文度量微观层面的数字化水平,分析并检验数字化转型对非农就业的影响。研究发现,数字化转型是农户参与非农就业的有效动力,能显著提高就业质量,促进农户收入与消费增加。机制分析表明,数字化转型主要通过提高农地转出率与农业机械使用率,拓宽社交网络促进非农就业。在经济发展较为落后、社区网络基础设施差的地区,数字化转型的积极作用更大。对于户主受教育水平较低、有老年人、无未成年子女的家庭,数字化转型对非农就业的影响更大。农户是数字乡村建设和乡村振兴的微观基础,本研究能为数字乡村建设提供有益借鉴和依据。

The digital economy is emerging as a significant driving force for global economic and social development due to the rapid innovation and application of digital technologies such as cloud computing,mobile Internet,big data,and artificial intelligence.The digital transformation presents both opportunities and challenges for rural residents’employment.On the one hand,digital transformation is beneficial to the convenience and modernization of rural residents’lives,and also changes the employment of the new generation of rural labor.Digital transformation is beneficial to non‐agricultural employment for rural labor because it provides many new jobs.On the other hand,scholarly literature and empirical evidence indicate that the issue of imbalanced digital development is increasingly pronounced due to factors such as disparities in resource endowments and technological progress.The thresholds and biases associated with digital transformation may hinder non‐agricultural employment opportunities for rural residents.Therefore,it is meaningful to analyze whether the impact of digital transformation on non‐agricultural employment is positive or negative.This paper theoretically analyzes the impact of digital transformation on non‐agricultural employment for rural labor based on the population mobility theory.This paper utilizes data from the China Household Finance Survey(CHFS)to construct a balanced panel,using a fixed effects model and an instrumental variable approach.This paper analyzes the role of digital transformation in addressing concerns related to non‐agricultural employment,thereby releasing rural labor and enhancing the accessibility of employment opportunities.Furthermore,as non‐agricultural employment is a complex phenomenon,this paper examines the heterogeneity of the impact of digital transformation on non‐agricultural employment in terms of economic environment,rural infrastructure,and household characteristics.This paper finds that digital transformation has a positive impact on non‐agricultural employment for rural households.It significantly improves the quality of employment and contributes to an increase in household income and consumption.Mechanism analysis shows that digital transformation promotes non‐agricultural employment by increasing agricultural land transfer and machinery use rates and broadening social networks.The positive effect of digital transformation is more significant in areas with relatively backward economic development and poor community network infrastructure.For households with heads with lower education levels,older adults,or no minor children,digital transformation has a more significant role in promoting non‐agricultural employment.This paper argues that it is meaningful to conduct digital skills training for rural labor and increase their digital literacy to enhance the employment level.The government should establish a comprehensive information service platform for rural areas to assist laborers in collecting pertinent employment information,staying abreast of the latest policies,and facilitating online communication and matching among various stakeholders.Last but not least,the government should allocate specific funds to implement the“Network Village Access”project,providing households in rural areas with wireless routers and access to fiber optic networks.This paper makes three significant contributions to existing literature.Firstly,micro‐data is used to measure household digital transformation.Existing literature predominantly adopts a single indicator to measure digitalization,which may be one‐sided.This paper employs the entropy weight method to calculate household digitalization,which addresses the limitations of using a single variable and allows for a comprehensive assessment of micro‐level household digitalization.Secondly,this paper performs a theoretical analysis to examine the influence of digital transformation on non‐agricultural employment,leveraging insights from the population mobility theory.Thirdly,this paper analyzes how micro‐level householdly digital transformation affects non‐agricultural employment from perspectives of land transfer,agricultural machinery usage,and social networks,which holds both theoretical and practical significance.