Abstract:

As the development of the digital economy continues, enterprises are advancing digital transformation to gain competitive advantage. However, this process inevitably impacts the labor market. By introducing variables such as heterogeneous workers, digital capital, and corporate digital taxes into the Overlapping Generations (OLG) model, this paper analyzes how digital transformation affects income inequality among enterprise workers. Through theoretical model analysis and numerical simulations, it describes how enterprise digital transformation exacerbates income inequality via three pathways: the productivity effect, the job substitution effect, and the ripple effect. Under appropriate parameter calibration, digital transformation intensifies income disparities among heterogeneous workers. To mitigate the widening labor income gap caused by digitalization, governments should accelerate the establishment of high-quality education systems to promote educational equity; enhance digital skills training for workers to improve job matching; expedite the construction of digital tax systems to optimize income distribution mechanisms; and strengthen digital information platforms in labor markets to boost the efficiency of supply-demand matching.

Key words: digital capital, income inequality, human capital premium, digital tax