The spatial employment effect of high-speed railway: quasi-natural experimental evidence from China

High-speed rail (HSR) access promotes the interregional population flow and integrated market across cities in China. Using panel data of 286 cities in China from 2000 to 2018, we investigated the spatial employment effect of HSR by multi-period Difference-in-Difference (DID) model and staggered DID. We found that: First, HSR significantly enhances the spatial employment agglomeration, rationalization of three industrial-employment structures and the advancement of industrial structure in areas with HSR. Cities that open HSRs later generally get higher marginal benefit from HSR. Second, based on the change of regional accessibility caused by HSR, income and housing price are two channels affect spatial employment distribution; capital and labor are two channels affect the industrial-employment structure. Third, HSR has a greater spatial employment effect in peripheral cities than central cities, and HSR has a greater spatial employment effect in southern cities than northern cities. HSR has significantly promoted employment agglomeration in eastern China; it has a significant impact on the employment structure in Northeast China. Fourth, the effective radiation distance of HSR station is about 30 km. Labor market needs to pay more attention on the influences of new massive public transportation.

Automated summary

The study found that the opening of high-speed rail has a positive impact on population flow and market integration between cities in China. High-speed rail can enhance employment agglomeration, improve industrial structure, and have different effects on regional employment. Income, housing price, capital, and labor are all affected by high-speed rail. Additionally, the employment effect of high-speed rail is more significant in peripheral and southern cities. However, the effective radiation distance of high-speed rail stations is limited, and the labor market should pay more attention to the impacts of new massive public transportation.