企业ESG表现、人力资本结构调整与劳动力成本

Corporate ESG Performance, Human Capital Structure Adjustment, and Labor Costs

摘要: 随着经济高质量发展和人口红利消退，ESG理念深刻影响企业要素配置。本文以2009~2024年中国A股上市公司为样本，实证检验企业ESG表现对劳动力成本的影响与机制。研究发现，良好的ESG表现显著提高了企业的劳动力成本，核心路径在于人力资本结构优化，即企业增加高学历、高技能人才需求，挤出部分低技能劳动力，且成本上升更多体现为效率工资增长。从ESG细分维度看，企业劳动力成本上升主要源于社会维度和治理维度的实践。异质性分析显示，在非国有企业、市场竞争激烈的行业、媒体关注度高的企业以及高科技行业中，该效应更显著。进一步分析表明，由ESG驱动的劳动力成本上升并未削弱企业竞争力，反而显著提升了企业的突破性创新产出，实现长期价值创造。本研究拓展了ESG微观经济后果与劳动力成本决定因素的研究视角，为企业理性看待劳动力成本上升、优化人力资本配置提供了启示。

Abstract: With the high-quality economic development and the fading demographic dividend, the ESG concept has profoundly influenced corporate factor allocation. Using a sample of China’s A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2024, this paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of corporate ESG performance on labor costs. The study reveals that good ESG performance significantly increases corporate labor costs. The core pathway lies in the optimization of the human capital structure: enterprises increase their demand for highly educated and highly skilled talents while crowding out a portion of low-skilled labor, and the consequent cost increase is primarily reflected in the growth of efficiency wages. From the perspective of ESG sub-dimensions, the increase in corporate labor costs mainly stems from practices in the social and governance dimensions. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, industries with intense market competition, firms with high media attention, and high-tech industries. Further analysis indicates that the ESG-driven increase in labor costs does not weaken corporate competitiveness; rather, it significantly enhances firms’ breakthrough innovation output, thereby realizing long-term value creation. This research expands the perspectives on the microeconomic consequences of ESG and the determinants of labor costs, providing practical implications for enterprises to rationally view rising labor costs and optimize human capital allocation.