关键词: 数字金融发展, 研发投资, 固定资产投资, 就业技能结构升级

Abstract: Employment is the biggest livelihood issue, and it is also a topic of continuous concern in academia. The upgrading of employment skill structure is an important manifestation of improving the quality of employment. Achieving higher-quality employment is an important foundation for promoting the common prosperity of all people and an important driving force for high-quality economic development. With the development and application of digital technology, especially artificial intelligence, the change of employment skill structure has become an important topic of concern in the international community, which has triggered extensive thinking and discussion. In recent years, the integration of digital technology and financial industry has derived digital finance. With the help of digital technology, digital finance has become a new engine to correct labor mismatch and expand employment scale as it can reduce information asymmetry, improve the mode, boundary and efficiency of financial services. Therefore, can the development of digital finance improve the quality of employment? The answer to this question has important theoretical value and practical significance for mining the dynamic mechanism of the upgrading of employment skill structure and evaluating the economic effect of the development of digital finance.
Based on the “Capital-Skill Complementarity” hypothesis, this paper integrates digital finance, corporate investment behavior and employment skill structure upgrading into the same research framework, identifies the impact of digital finance on corporate investment behavior and employment skill structure upgrading, and explores the role and internal mechanism of corporate investment behavior in the logical chain of “digital finance-employment skill structure upgrading”. Furthermore, this paper discusses the heterogeneous impact of digital finance and corporate investment behavior on the upgrading of employment skill structure in the context of the difference in labor protection. The study finds that: First, digital finance can significantly promote the upgrading of employment skills structure. After a series of robustness tests, this conclusion is still valid. Second, R&D investment and fixed asset investment play an intermediary role in the logical chain of “digital finance-employment skill structure upgrading”. Specifically, digital finance significantly promotes corporate R&D investment and inhibits fixed asset investment, while R&D investment significantly promotes the upgrading of employment skill structure, and fixed asset investment significantly inhibits the upgrading of employment skill structure. Third, from the perspective of labor employment, digital finance inhibits the employment of low-skilled labor and promotes the upgrading of employment skill structure. R&D investment optimizes the employment skill structure by increasing the employment of high-skilled labor. Fixed asset investment increases the employment of low-skilled labor and inhibits the upgrading of employment skill structure. Fourth, in regions with higher intensity of labor rights protection, digital finance plays a stronger role in optimizing the structure of labor employment skills. However, the optimization effect of R&D investment on the structure of labor employment skills is stronger in regions with lower labor rights protection intensity. There is no significant difference in the impact of fixed asset investment on the structure of labor employment skills. The relevant research conclusions provide theoretical support and empirical evidence for improving the scale and quality of employment in the new era.

Key words: Digital Financial Development, R&D Investment, Fixed Asset Investment, Upgrading of Employment Skill Structure