Does Pollution Information Disclosure Affect Corporate Employment? Evidence from China

This study examined the impact of pollution information disclosure on corporate employment demand. Utilizing data from A-share listed companies between 2009 and 2018, we examined the impact of pollution information disclosure on corporate employment requirements using the pollution information transparency index (PITI). The research indicates the following: ① The publication of pollution information significantly reduces corporate employment demand. A series of 2SLS analyses were performed using the air mobility coefficient and Internet penetration as instrumental variables, and the aforementioned conclusions remained valid. ② The analysis of the mechanism indicates that the disclosure of pollution information imposes environmental governance pressure on enterprises via the negative effects of environmental costs. Consequently, enterprises are likely to diminish their employment demand in reaction to the increase in environmental management costs in the short term. The positive impact of corporate technology R&D on employment demand has not yet been demonstrated. ③ Further analysis showed that the impact of pollution information disclosure on corporate employment is more obvious among state-owned enterprises and heavily polluting enterprises, industries with higher wage levels, employees of high-skilled enterprises, and employees in the production sector. ④ The impact of pollution information disclosure on corporate employment shows a growing positive effect; i.e., a favorable relationship between pollution information disclosure and human capital will be established when the pollution information disclosure index hits 65.6 points.