Page 68 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2020

2020 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

structure of the industry, and contributed to the realization of 3. METHODOLOGY
high-quality employment [4]. In the study on the digital
economy’s employment effects, which is based on a non- This paper adopts the statistical method for measuring direct
competitive employment input-occupancy-output model, it employment and stimulation effects on economy, and the
indicates that industrial convergence between ICT and data is obtained from questionnaires on the WeChat platform.
traditional industries can spur on the economic expansion, The calculation of indirect employment is conducted through
leading to a gradual extension of consumption-driven the expenditure method of the national economic accounting
employment effects. methods, with the data coming from statistics related to
consumption in personal questionnaires. To investigate the
Meanwhile, the digital economy has a greater influence on social and economic influences of the WeChat platform
the employment of technology-intensive manufacturing and during the outbreak, we chose to distribute and take back the
that of labor-intensive and capital-intensive sectors, and questionnaires between March and April, targeting business
presents strong employment effects in the producer service operators and service providers of the platform. Finally, we
sector, driving the industrial economy of China to transform managed to collect 1189 effective answers from corporate
from being labor-intensive to technology-intensive [5]. service providers, 470 from payment service providers, 103
from applet service providers, 2,186 from official account
In addition, the increasing convergence of Internet platforms operators and 946 from applet developers.
with other industries fosters new technologies, new
industries and new business formats, and the application of
new technologies also helps reshape the operation modes of
traditional industries and traditional economy, thus
contributing to social employment. David Autor’s study
assumed that existing research on the impacts of new
technologies on the labor market have overplayed the
substitution effects, arguing that the new technologies
haven't reduced the overall employment, but rather
complemented labor forces while replacing them, boosting
output and labor demands and thus contributing to
employment [6].

Zhan Xiaoning and Ouyang Yongfu pointed out in their
study (2018) that the FDI of digital economy, including
investment and technologies in digital, intelligent and
automated fields, is crucial to the upgrading and
transformation of traditional industries and the improvement
of global competitiveness, thus exerting an indispensable Figure 1 – Employment estimation model
role in boosting the employment of traditional industries [7].
3.1 Calculation of the economic impact of WeChat
With the task-based theoretical models, Acemoglu and
Restropo explained that apart from the substitution effects on The economic impact of WeChat mainly refers to the driving
the labor market, automation, artificial intelligence and of consumption (in the same caliber as GDP), including
robotics will also create new work tasks that require the information consumption and the driving of traditional
laborers’ competitive advantages, and the capital consumption. Information consumption refers to the
accumulation and the improvement of automated productive information products and services purchased and used by
efficiency coming along will also produce new tasks, residents or governments in the accounting period to meet
increasing labor demands and thus creating more jobs [8]. personal or public needs, which can be divided into
information product consumption and information service
Wang Mengfei and Zhang Xiwei (2020) proposed that the consumption. At the same time, through the Internet
technological changes brought about by the digital economy platform, mobile payment and other means, information
will reshape the conventional production mode, and that consumption can greatly drive consumption in other fields,
intelligent production enhances the replacement of and promote the vigorous development of emerging
materialized labor and cuts employment. Parallel to this, consumption such as online shopping, online take-outs,
knowledge-intensive industries, such as technological R&D online travel, ride-sharing, online education and
and algorithm studies, is gradually becoming a new labor- telemedicine, and create a new ecology of digital economy.
intensive industry, providing more job opportunities [9].

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