智能手机使用与灵活就业:来自中国家庭金融调查的证据

Smart Phone and Flexible Employment: Evidence from China Household Finance Survey

“新基建”推动了数字技术普及和数字经济发展,成为拉动中国经济、构建双循环新格局的重要抓手。在此背景下,如何发挥数字经济优势,利用数字技术红利,弥合数字鸿沟,实现更充分更高质量就业成为重要议题。本文基于2015—2019年中国家庭金融调查数据构建平衡面板,使用固定效应模型实证检验智能手机使用对灵活就业的影响。研究结果表明,智能手机作为数字技术的重要接入工具,能显著促进个体参与非正规就业和个体经营就业,并提高此类就业收入。智能手机使用对灵活就业的影响呈现工作性质、劳动者特征和地区异质性。进一步研究发现,信息获取、社交活动是智能手机使用影响灵活就业的可能渠道。智能手机使用范围越广,个体从事灵活就业的可能性越大。此外,智能手机使用能促进商户成为“码商”,对提高工商业经营绩效有积极作用。本文能为分析数字经济的就业红利,促进灵活就业发展,全面稳定就业提供思路和参考。

Under the impetus of the“New Infrastructure”initiatives,there has been rapid development in digital technology and the digital economy.Digital technology and the digital economy have emerged as crucial catalysts for driving China’s economic growth and shaping a new dual-cycle development pattern.It is crucial to leverage the advantages of the digital economy and harness the positive effects of digital technology to drive high-quality employment.This paper constructs a balanced panel using data from the 2015-2019 China Household Finance Survey and empirically analyzes the impact of smartphones on flexible employment using a fixed-effects model.The research indicates that as a crucial access tool to digital technology,smartphones significantly enhance the likelihood of laborer engaging in informal and self-employment,while also increasing their employment income.The impact of smartphones on flexible employment varies across job nature,labor characteristics,and regions.Furthermore,this paper identifies that information acquisition and social activities are channels through which smartphones influence flexible employment.The broader the scope of smartphone usage,the greater the likelihood of laborers engaging in flexible employment.Last but not least,smartphones facilitate merchants’becoming“mobile vendors”,and they also positively impact the operational performance of commerce and industry.This paper provides insights and references for analyzing the employment dividends of the digital economy,promoting the development of flexible employment,and comprehensively stabilizing employment.