THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON EMPLOYMENT IN GUANGDONG’S MANUFACTURING SECTOR AMID DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Keywords:
Digital transformation, Artificial intelligence, Guangdong manufacturing, Employment impactAbstract
Against the backdrop of industrial digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is profoundly reshaping the employment structure in the manufacturing sector. Based on survey data from 423 manufacturing enterprises in Guangdong, this study employs analysis of variance (ANOVA) and benchmark regression models to systematically analyze the impact of AI applications on changes in employment scale, job demand, and skill requirements. The results indicate that AI generally exerts a significant positive effect on the employment scale in the manufacturing sector; factors such as the proportion of R&D investment in AI, the growth rate of AI investment, and the proportion of AI-related personnel all significantly drive employment growth. there is marked heterogeneity in employment changes across industry types, enterprise sizes, and enterprise nature, with more pronounced adjustments observed in the equipment manufacturing sector, high-tech manufacturing, as well as in medium-to-large enterprises, foreign-invested, and joint-venture enterprises; AI is driving a shift in job demand toward intelligent roles such as AI R&D engineers and industrial data analysts, while simultaneously prompting an upgrade in skill requirements toward composite competencies in data analysis, human-machine collaboration, and innovative problem-solving. The study’s conclusions can serve as a reference for human resource structural adjustments and employment policy formulation in Guangdong’s manufacturing sector.References
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