【Hot Thinking】Thinking about achieving fuller and higher quality employment in the field of digital economy

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  It is necessary to make timely analysis and judgments on the impact of the development of the digital economy on the labor market, and adopt a variety of measures to promote the realization of fuller and higher-quality employment in the digital economy.

  In recent years, with the in-depth integration of digital technologies such as mobile Internet, big data, and cloud computing with the real economy, new industries, new formats and new models have developed rapidly, and a large number of jobs have emerged.

The development of the digital economy not only promotes the employment of laborers, but also has a certain impact. While platform-based employment promotes the expansion of employment and the optimization of employment structure, it also creates problems such as employment polarization and low employment quality.

Therefore, it is necessary to make timely analysis and judgments on the impact of the development of the digital economy on the labor market, and adopt a variety of measures to promote the realization of fuller and higher-quality employment in the digital economy.

  First, the rapid development of digital technology has put some traditional, low-tech, and procedural jobs at risk of being replaced.

At present, digital technology is widely used in various fields, continuously promoting the improvement of labor productivity, resulting in a corresponding reduction in labor input. This situation is more obvious in the secondary industry, especially in the manufacturing industry.

Due to the generally low technical level of the workers being replaced, it is easy to flow to labor-intensive service industries such as food delivery and online car-hailing in the tertiary industry, while productive service industries such as legal consulting, intellectual property rights, finance and other technology and capital-intensive services The service industry absorbs relatively few jobs.

The producer service industry has the characteristics of high degree of specialization and intensive knowledge, and has great potential for absorbing employment. It is an important force to promote economic and employment growth.

However, at present, the producer service industry still has shortcomings in terms of proportion, structure, and scale, and is unable to absorb more laborers.

Many low-skilled workers enter labor-intensive service industries. Technological advancement has led to rapid depreciation of human capital, and the increase in production efficiency has caused some labor redundancy. This contradiction will increase the risk of structural unemployment.

  Second, digital talents are facing a shortage of supply.

While the digital economy is integrated with the real economy represented by the manufacturing industry, it has brought many changes in organizations, formats, and models, which has increased the demand for digital talents in emerging fields.

On the one hand, the high-end manufacturing sector has a strong demand for high-skilled talents, but the labor supply is obviously insufficient.

The shortage of digital talents has restricted the digital development of the economy to a certain extent.

According to the analysis report on the current employment situation of new occupations released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, it is estimated that in the next five years, the total talent gap in the Internet of Things industry will exceed 16 million, the intelligent manufacturing field will reach 9 million, and the artificial intelligence field will reach nearly 5 million.

On the other hand, there is a large gap between the training model and structure of digital talents and social needs.

Manufacturing companies need a large shortage of skilled workers, but the supply and demand of employees do not match. Many manufacturing companies have been facing difficulties in recruiting workers and college graduates.

From the perspective of the training of digital talents in colleges and universities, artificial intelligence and other related majors have problems such as insufficient faculty and aging curriculum; enterprises also do not pay attention to the training of digital talents, which makes it difficult for compound talents to meet actual needs.

  Third, the social security system based on traditional labor relations does not meet the needs of the development of the digital economy.

Since workers in the digital economy, especially in new business formats, have not signed labor contracts with platform companies, and corporate platforms have not paid social insurance for these workers, this makes it difficult for them to resist professional risks or accidental injuries.

Many workers in the new business are migrant workers. They have low skill levels and weak employability. They are easily replaced by technology, have a higher risk of unemployment, and do not receive the corresponding social security in time.

  In addition, with the development of the digital economy, employment polarization will become more prominent.

Since the impact of technology on employment has the characteristics of industry or job differences, for example, digital technology has strong substitution for procedural and mechanical jobs, but weak substitution for non-procedural and non-repeatable jobs, so jobs are Demand may tend to be polarized between high-end and low-end. The supply of traditional low-skilled jobs exceeds demand, and the supply of new high-skilled jobs exceeds demand. This will reduce the bargaining power of some low- and medium-skilled workers to a certain extent.

  To achieve fuller and higher-quality employment in the digital economy, the author believes that the first is to support and encourage the better development of new forms of employment.

On the one hand, speed up the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G and industrial Internet to provide important support for new industries, new business forms, and new models to enhance employment absorption capacity; at the same time, by promoting the digital transformation of traditional industries, promote the deep integration of various industries and drive more The shift of workers to improve the quality of employment.

On the other hand, vigorously support innovation and entrepreneurship activities in the digital economy, create a vibrant environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital economy through the reform of "delegating control and service", further optimize services, remove obstacles to entrepreneurship, and stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship through policies such as tax reductions and exemptions.

  The second is to help the new employment form fill up the shortcomings.

Explore relevant policies to promote and improve the development of new forms of employment, clarify the rights and obligations of platform enterprises and workers, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

Strengthen the coordinated governance of social security between the government and platform companies, effectively regulate new labor relations under the digital economy, and gradually solve the problem of legal protection for workers in new forms of employment.

Encourage and support the platform to design commercial insurance for practitioners in new forms of employment, provide financial subsidies and tax incentives to the platform to provide multi-level protection for practitioners in new forms of employment through commercial insurance, and establish a diversified occupational injury protection system for practitioners in new forms of employment .

Intensify supervision services, strengthen research on labor standards related to enterprise labor, labor contracts, wage payment, working hours, rest and vacation, and establish standards for the protection of labor rights and interests of employees in new forms of employment.

  The third is to increase the training of digital technology talents.

It is necessary to reform the curriculum system and training mode of universities and higher vocational colleges, establish cooperation with some related companies or institutions in the process of talent training, and continuously improve the comprehensive training ability of talents through school-enterprise cooperation to meet the demand for talents in the development of the digital economy .

Intensify digital skills training, create a "lifelong learning" atmosphere, and at the same time improve talent development policies, create a better talent development environment, and increase the learning enthusiasm of workers; improve the talent incentive mechanism to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of digital talents , To improve the ability of low-skilled workers to adapt to the development of the digital economy.

  The fourth is to increase the construction of digital economy platforms.

On the one hand, it encourages platform companies to absorb flexible employment, encourages the integration of online and offline development of traditional companies, builds innovative service platforms in cross-industry and cross-fields, and enhances the level of digital services.

On the other hand, encourage platform companies to assume corresponding responsibilities and strengthen legal protection for workers in new forms of employment.

Platform companies must also strengthen self-management, continue to deepen the development of the platform economy, improve operational capabilities, and reduce operational risks.

Actively participate in social governance and use the advantages of platform big data to provide solutions for public governance.

  (The author is a professor at the School of Economics and Management, Hubei University of Technology)

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