Regional Disparities and Coordinated Development of Talent Service Systems in China: A Sustainability Perspective

Regional talent service systems play an important role in supporting human capital development and sustainable regional development. However, improvements in overall talent service development may coexist with persistent spatial disparities and imbalances among service supply, demand, and environment. This study evaluates regional talent service systems across 30 provincial-level regions in China from 2015 to 2023 using the entropy weight–TOPSIS method, Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition, and coupling coordination model, supplemented by the coefficient of variation (CV). The results show that the national average development score increased from 0.179 to 0.325, while the overall Gini coefficient declined from 0.276 to 0.147. Nevertheless, between-region disparities remained the dominant source of inequality. The national coupling coordination degree increased from 0.373 to 0.553, accompanied by a decline in the average CV from 0.487 to 0.432. However, the northeastern region experienced an increase in CV despite improved coupling coordination, indicating that higher coordination indices do not necessarily imply greater subsystem balance. These findings highlight the importance of jointly assessing development levels, spatial disparities, and subsystem balance to inform sustainable regional talent service development.