Sustainable youth employment quality management: The impact of robotization in China

Abstract

Robotization has caused widespread concern about job losses, but few scholars have paid attention to changes in employment quality. This study provides supplementary evidences on the impact of robotization on youth employment quality and compares the effectiveness of various measures. Using data about individual employment and robot usage in China, this study finds that robotization reduces youth employment quality, especially for males and the middle-educated, aged 26 to 35, and in regions with insufficient workers. The substitution effect, skill preparation effect, and productivity effect play important roles in this process. Besides the common strategy of education, the mitigating capabilities of skill training has been demonstrated, but self-entrepreneurship has not. This study suggests that the exploration of various youth self-development measures, such as skill training, is warranted to improve employment quality.