Balancing environmental protection and economic development is a significant topic in China’s pursuit of high-quality development and green transformation, and also an important orientation for formulating environmental regulation policies. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposes to improve policy systems in finance, taxation, and other areas that support green development, and to improve the market-oriented allocation mechanism of resource and environmental factors, which provides fundamental guidance for the coordinated development of environmental governance and the economy and society. Among them, market-based environmental regulation instruments have become a key path to promote the comprehensive greening of economic and social development due to their unique advantages in stimulating endogenous motivation for social green transformation. Based on the theoretical framework of the “Porter Hypothesis” and combined with the policy practice review, this paper constructs the analytical logic of the impact of environmental protection tax on corporate labor employment and proposes research hypotheses. Taking the official implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper selects the employee data from Shanghai and Shenzhen listed companies during 2014 to 2021, and employs the continuous difference-in-differences method to empirically evaluate the impact of regional differences in environmental protection tax rates on the number of corporate employees. A series of robustness tests are conducted to ensure the reliability of the results. On this basis, heterogeneous analysis is further carried out from the dimensions of property rights nature, enterprise scale, market concentration and human capital level to examine the group differences in policy effects. In terms of mechanism testing, from the dual perspectives of substitution effect and tax incentive, the internal transmission mechanism of environmental protection tax affecting labor employment is revealed. At the same time, the paper conducts expanded analysis on the synergistic effects of environmental subsidies, corporate social and environmental responsibilities, executive background and policies, and performs detailed examinations on employees occupational composition. The research findings show that First, the environmental protection tax significantly promotes corporate labor employment, and this effect is mainly realized through paths such as increasing environmental expenditure, innovation compensation effect, and tax reduction and exemption incentives. Second, there are obvious heterogeneities in policy effects, with more significant impacts on state-owned enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and enterprises with strong market competitiveness, and the employment promotion effect on highly educated, highly skilled labor and management positions is particularly prominent. Third, environmental protection tax and government environmental subsidies do not show synergistic effects, but the employment incentive effect is more significant when enterprises fully fulfill their social and environmental responsibilities and employ executives with environmental work experience. The research contributions of this paper are mainly reflected in (1) At the theoretical level, based on the “Porter Hypothesis”, it systematically explores the employment effect of environmental protection tax, enriching the research dimension of the economic and social effects of environmental regulation, and providing new micro-evidence for understanding the relationship between environmental policies and employment. (2) While verifying that environmental protection tax affects employment through controlling end-of-pipe emissions and improving production technology, it confirms that environmental protection tax realizes employment incentives through tax reduction and exemption, revealing the regulatory role of “tax neutrality” design on enterprise behavior and labor market. (3) At the practical level, extended analysis is carried out from the perspectives of the differentiated impact of environmental protection tax implementation and the synergistic effects with environmental subsidy policies, providing empirical evidence for improving the environmental protection tax system and coordinating environmental governance with employment stability goals, which has important practical significance for promoting green and sustainable economic and social development.
SHAOS, YANGZ B. Environmental regulation and labor demand: does the double dividend effect exist: empirical evidence from China’s industrial sector[J].Journal of Environmental Economics,2017,2(2):64-80.
[5]
GRAYW B, SHADBEGIANR J, WANGC. Do EPA regulations affect labor demand? Evidence from the pulp and paper industry[J].Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,2014,68(1):188-202.
[6]
GREENSTONEM. The impacts of environmental regulations on industrial activity: evidence from the 1970 and 1977 Clean Air Act amendments and the census of manufactures[J].Journal of Political Economics,2002,110(6):1175-1219.
[7]
HAFSTEADM A C, WILLIAMSIII R C. Unemployment and environmental regulation in general equilibrium[J].Journal of Public Economics,2018,160:50-65.
ZHOUY H, YANGL, JIANGS S. Binding carbon reduction and employment: an examination based on changes in the workforce of enterprises and regions[J].Economic Research Journal,2023,58(7):104-120.
[10]
WALKERW R. Environmental regulation and labor reallocation: evidence from the Clean Air Act[J].American Economic Review,2011,101(3):442-447.
[11]
WALKERW R. The transitional costs of sectoral reallocation: evidence from the Clean Air Act and the workforce[J].Quarterly Journal of Economics,2013,128(4):1787-1835.
[12]
PORTERM E. The competitive advantage of nations [M].Berlin:Springer,1998:20.
[13]
CARRAROC, GALEOTTIM, GALLOM. Environmental taxation and unemployment: some evidence on the “double dividend hypothesis” in Europe[J].Journal of Public Economics,1996,62(1):141-181.
[14]
YIPC M. On the labor market consequences of environmental taxes[J].Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,2018,89:136-152.
[15]
YAMAZAKIA. Jobs and climate policy: evidence from British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax[J].Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,2017,83:197-216.
[16]
BERMANE, BUI L. Environmental regulation and labor demand: evidence from the south coast air basin[J].Journal of Public Economics,2001,79(2):265-295.
[17]
COLEM A, ELLIOTR J. Do environmental regulations cost jobs? An industry-level analysis of the UK[J].Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy,2007,7(1):1662-1668.
NIUH, YANC L. Environmental taxation, resource allocation and high-quality economic development[J].The Journal of World Economy,2021,44(9):28-50.
[20]
LIUG Q, YANGZ Q, ZHANGF, et al. Environmental tax reform and environmental investment: a quasi-natural experiment based on China’s Environmental Protection Tax Law[J].Energy Economics,2022,109:106000.
YUL C, ZHANGW G, BIQ. Can the reform of environmental protection fee-to-tax promote the green transformation of high-polluting enterprises:evidence from quasi-natural experiments implemented in accordance with the Environmental Protection Tax Law[J].China Population, Resources and Environment,2021,31(5):109-118.
[23]
MARTINR, PREUXL B, WAGNERU J. The impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing: evidence from microdata[J].Journal of Public Economics,2014,117:1-14.
[24]
GOODSTEINE. Labor supply and the double-dividend[J].Ecological Economics,2002,42:101-106.
WANGF, GEX. Does the low-carbon transition impact employment: empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilots[J].China Industrial Economics, 2022,39(5):81-99.
WANGZ, HANC. How does the resource tax reform affect the environmental performance of enterprises?[J].Modern Economic Science,2025,47(4):113-127.
[29]
MONTMARTINB, HERRERAM. Internal and external effects of R&D subsidies and fiscal incentives: empirical evidence using spatial dynamic panel models[J].Research Policy,2015,44(5):1065-1079.
GUOJ J, FANGY, YANGY. Whether the reform of the emission charge standard has promoted the reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions in China’s industry[J].The Journal of World Economy,2019,42(1):121-144.
CHENS Y, CHEND K. Haze pollution, government governance and high-quality economic development[J].Economic Research Journal,2018,53(2):20-34.
[36]
LIUM D, TANR P, ZHANGB. The costs of “blue sky”: environmental regulation, technology upgrading, and labor demand in China[J].Journal of Development Economics,2021,150:102610.
ZHANGC Y, WANGY, LIY N. Can greening production processes promote employment: evidence from cleaner production standards[J].Finance & Trade Economics,2017,38(3):131-146.
LIQ Y, XIAOZ H. Heterogeneous environmental regulatory tools and firms’ green innovation incentives: evidence from green patents of listed firms[J].Economic Research Journal,2020,55(9):192-208.