THE IMPACT OF THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ON LABOR PARTICIPATION OF THE YOUNG ELDERLY: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

  • X. Zhang Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; Ningde Normal University, Ningde, China
  • O.P. Nedospasova Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia

Аннотация

To alleviate the shortage of labor force and reduce the burden of pensions, it has become an important global trend to advocate labor participation of the young elderly (55-70 years old). However, the rapid development of Internet information technology not only brings digital dividends but also leads to the digital divide among the elderly. In the context of the dual era of digitalization and aging, it is of great significance to study the impact of the digital divide on the labor participation of the elderly. This paper analyzes the three levels of the digital divide (access gap, use gap, knowledge gap) and theoretically analyzes the impact of these three levels of the digital divide on the labor participation of the elderly. Since China is a typical representative country under the intertwined influence of the digital economy and population aging, this paper selects China as the research object. This paper uses the data set released by the China General Social Survey in 2017 (CGSS-2017) and adopts the probit model to empirically analyze the impact of the three-level digital divide on labor participation of the young elderly. The results show that the three levels digital divide has a significant impact on the labor participation of the young elderly, and individual characteristics and family characteristics also lead to significant heterogeneity of labor participation of the young elderly.

Ключевые слова

access gap, digital divide, digital economy, digital literacy, knowledge gap, labor participation, the young elderly, use gap

References

World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights (2020). United Nations. URL: https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Highlights.pdf (accessed on 17.04.2022).

Ritchie H., Roser M. Age Structure (2019). Our World in Data. URL: https://ourworldindata.org/age-structure (accessed on 17.04.2022).

Gimpelson V.E., Zinchenko D.I. “Cost of getting older”: wages of older age workers // Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2019. Vol. 11. Pp. 35-62. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.32609/0042-8736-2019-11-35-62

Cribb J., Emmerson C. Can't wait to get my pension: the effect of raising the female early retirement age on income, poverty and deprivation // Journal of Pension Economics & Finance. 2019. Vol. 18(3). Pp. 450-472. DOI: 10.1017/S1474747218000057

Gustman A.L., Steinmeier T.L. Retirement in dual-career families: a structural model // Journal of Labor Economics. 2000. Vol. 18(3). Pp. 503-545.

White Paper on Global Digital Economy – A New Dawn of Recovery under the Shock of the Epidemic (2021). China Institute of Information and Communications. URL: http://www.caict.ac.cn/english/research/whitepapers/202104/t20210429_375940.html (accessed on 18.04.2022).

Frimmel W. Later retirement and the labor market re-integration of elderly unemployed workers // The Journal of the Economics of Ageing. 2021. Vol. 1(19). P. 100310. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2021.100310

Geyer J., Welteke C. Closing Routes to Retirement for Women How Do They Respond? // Journal of Human Resources. 2021. Vol. 56(1). Pp. 311-341. DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.1.0717-8947R2

Atalay K., Barrett G.F., Siminski P. Pension incentives and the joint retirement of couples: Evidence from two natural experiments // Journal of Population Economics. 2019. Vol. 32(3). Pp. 735-767.

Labour force participation rate (2022). OECD Data. URL: https://data.oecd.org/emp/labour-force-participation-rate.htm#indicator-chart (accessed on 15.04.2022).

Friedberg L. The Impact of Technological Change on Older Workers: Evidence from Data on Computer Use // Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 2003. Vol. 56(3). Pp. 511-529. DOI: 10.2307/3590922

Schleife K. Computer use and employment status of older workers – an analysis based on individual data // Labour. 2006. Vol. 20. Pp. 325-348. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9914.2006.00341.x

Biagi F., Cavapozzi D., Miniaci R. Employment transitions and computer use of older workers // Applied Economics. 2011. Vol. 45(6). Pp. 687-696. DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.610748

Lv M., Peng X., Lu M. The impact of Internet use on employment participation of older adults // Economic Dynamics. 2020. Vol. 10. Pp. 77-91. (In Chinese).

Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (2022). CNNIC. (In Chinese). URL: http://www.cnnic.net.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/ (accessed on 17.04.2022).

Riccardini F., Fazion M. Measuring the Digital Divide / In Proceedings – IAOS Conference on Official Statistics and the New Economy, 2002.

Falling through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide. Government Printing Office USA, 1999.

Cullen R. Addressing the Digital Divide // Online Information Review. 2001. Vol. 5. Pp. 311-320. DOI: 10.1108/14684520110410517

Wade R.H. Bridging the Digital Divide: New Route to Development or New Form of Dependency? // Global Governance. 2002. Vol. 8(4). Pp. 443-466.

Attewell P. The First and Second Digital Divides // Sociology of Education. 2001. Vol. 74(3). Pp. 252-259. DOI: ⦁ 10.2307/2673277

Friemel T.N. The digital divide has grown old: Determinants of a digital divide among seniors // New Media & Society. 2014. Vol. 18(2). Pp. 313-331. DOI: 10.1177/1461444814538648

Way W., Zhang M.X. Third digital divide: knowledge gap on the Internet // Journalism and Communication Studies. 2006. Vol. 4. Pp. 43-53. (In Chinese).

Li X., Liu D. The knowledge gap fallacy: a structural paradox of knowledge acquisition in social networks // Journalism and Communication Studies. 2018. Vol. 25(12). Pp. 5-20. (In Chinese).

Lu J., Wei X. The analytical framework, concept and path selection of digital divide governance for the elderly are based on the perspective of digital divide and knowledge gap theory // Population Research. 2021. Vol. 45(03). Pp. 17-30. (In Chinese).

China General Social Survey (2017). (In Chinese). URL: http://cgss.ruc.edu.cn/English/Home.htm (accessed on 15.04.2022).

Информация об авторах

Сяося Чжан – аспирант, Томский государственный университет, Томск, Россия; научный сотрудник, Педагогический университет Ниндэ, Ниндэ, Китай. E-mail: 282596452@qq.com.
Ольга Павловна Недоспасова – д-р экон. наук, доцент; профессор, Томский государственный университет, Томск, Россия. E-mail: olgaecconomy@mail.ru. SPIN РИНЦ 1356-4741. ORCID 0000-0001-8272-4616. ResearcherID R-2126-2016. Scopus Author ID 56671420500.

Для цитирования

Zhang X., Nedospasova O.P. The Impact of the Digital Divide on Labor Participation of the Young Elderly: Evidence from China // BENEFICIUM. 2022. Vol. 2(43). Pp. 121-126. (На англ.). DOI: 10.34680/BENEFICIUM.2022.2(43).121-126

Опубликован
2022-07-30
Выпуск
Раздел
УПРАВЛЕНИЕ ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСКИМИ РЕСУРСАМИ В УСЛОВИЯХ ИЗМЕНЕНИЙ