Improving the employment in less-developed areas through low-carbon city pilot policy: A study on old revolutionary areas in China

ObjectivesUnderstanding approaches to promoting green development as well as to increasing employment in old revolutionary areas from the perspective of the "dual carbon" goals is important and, hence, needs to be studied. MethodsUsing city and enterprise panel data from 2007 to 2019, this study used a differential model to assess the impact of China's low-carbon city pilot policies on employment in old revolutionary base areas. ResultsThe results showed that the low-carbon city pilot policies could significantly reduce the carbon emissions of old revolutionary base areas as well as significantly promote an improvement in employment levels. Specifically, low-carbon policies could promote the green technological innovation of enterprises and optimize the industrial structure through both output effects and factor-substitution effects to create more jobs. In addition, the impact of low-carbon city pilot policies on employment in different industries and factor intensity was heterogeneous, and the employment promotion effect was more significant in low-energy industries and non-labor-intensive enterprises. ConclusionsThe research results can enrich the theoretical basis of regional development planning in China, and provide important references that can be used to both stabilize the employment of residents and promote high-quality development in underdeveloped areas.