From routine jobs to algorithmic labor
A digital labor history of Generative AI and shifts in employer hiring demand in China, 2016–2024
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24212368 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yuda He (University of Technology Malaysia), Mazuwin Haja Maideen (University of Technology Malaysia), Chuan Sun (0000-0003-3495-5641, University of International Business and Economics), Zijing Guo (Sun Yat-sen University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labor History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-656X • E-ISSN: 1469-9702 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0023656x.2026.2733500 |
| OpenAlex | W7214155032 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
This article treats online job advertisements as a digital archive of how firms classify skills, credentials, and tasks, thereby reconstructing the early evolution of employer demand in the context of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in China. Drawing on more than 13 million job advertisements posted on major Chinese recruitment platforms between 2016 and 2024 and matching them with records of listed firms, the study examines how firms that had participated more extensively in AI-related recruitment prior to the public emergence of GenAI adjusted their advertised wage, educational, and task requirements after ChatGPT brought GenAI into public awareness in November 2022. The results show that firms with greater prior involvement in AI-related recruitment exhibit more pronounced polarization in their recruitment demand. In terms of educational and wage requirements, the human capital structure of recruitment demand displays a K-shaped pattern: the share of middle-level positions declines, while the shares of high- and low-level positions expand relatively. The empirical results from the mechanism analysis indicate that this pattern arises because GenAI increases the cognitive complexity of work while reducing its operational complexity. Consequently, firms increasingly concentrate their recruitment demand at the two ends of the labor market.
algorithmic labor · ChatGPT · China · educational requirements · generative AI · job advertisements · operational complexity · recruitment platforms · skill requirements · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Legal and Labor Studies
The History of Labour Intermediation
Against the Law
Inhuman Power
Forces of Labor
Skills, Tasks and Technologies
Explaining Job Polarization
The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market
Generative AI at Work
Changes in Relative Wages, 1963-1987
The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change
Labor and Monopoly Capital
Running out of time
Generative AI and jobs
Lousy and Lovely Jobs
Black box or hidden abode? The expansion and exposure of platform work managerialism
Workers of the World
Winners and losers of generative AI
The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market
Labour process theory and the gig economy
From Flexible Labour to 'Sticky Labour
Good Gig, Bad Gig
What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy
| Highly cited | No |
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