Does migrant workers benefit from digital finance? Evidence from China

In this paper, we examine whether digital finance affects employment quality of migrant workers in China. Based on a nationwide micro data, our empirical results show that migrant workers do benefit from digital finance at the aspect of employment quality. Migrant workers in cities with higher level of digital finance have a higher level of employment quality. The results are robust to a number of variations in our empirical models. Moreover, the positive effect of digital finance on employment quality of migrant workers is stronger for younger, female, and new generation migrant workers, and for migrant workers with lower employment quality and those working in the eastern region. The results of this article are of great significance for clarifying the relationship between digital finance and the employment quality of migrant workers, improving policies and measures related to the floating population, and promoting high-quality economic development.