Digital Transformation, Employment Demand and Structural Changes of Enterprises: Based on the Perspectives of “Process Management Efficiency” and “Mismatch Between Personnel and Positions”

Based on the 2020 China Private Enterprise Survey (CPES) data, this article examines the impact of digital transformation on corporate employment policies. The research finds that contrary to societal concerns, companies" labor demand has significantly increased due to the increase in digitalization. After other sensitivity analysis, the above view remains stable. Moreover, the larger the scale of the enterprise, the more optimistic the market expectations, and the better the regional business environment. the stronger the employment promotion effect of the digital transformation of the enterprise. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the employment promotion effect of digital transformation is more pronounced in enterprises with faster rising labor costs, more optimistic macroeconomic expectations, and government employment policy support. Further analysis also finds that the employment promotion effect of digital transformation has obvious "structural” characteristics, that is, digital transformation promotes the recruitment of high-quality talents by enterprises, while the “substitution effect” of low-quality personnel has asymmetric characteristics of “flow and stock” Mechanism analysis shows that digital transformation can improve the efficiency of process management in enterprises, exacerbating the problem of “mismatch between labor demand and professional skills” in enterprises, and thus incentivizing enterprises to expand the proportion of recruitment for high-quality talents. The research conclusions of this article have certain reference significance for supporting digital transformation and upgrading human capittal structure of enterprises, and also provide a new perspective for promoting high-quality employment under the new normal in China.