How Does AI Innovation Affect Urban Employment in China? A Mechanistic Analysis Based on Economic Density and Governmental Digital Attention

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation on urban labor markets has emerged as a critical issue. Drawing on economic density and governmental digital attention, this study examines 268 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2023 and integrates theoretical analysis with empirical testing to systematically investigate the employment effects of AI innovation at the urban level and the underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that, overall, AI innovation has a positive effect on urban employment, with more pronounced effects in the secondary and tertiary sectors and in southern cities. Mechanism analysis shows that AI innovation indirectly promotes employment growth by enhancing urban economic density, while governmental digital attention positively moderates the relationship between AI innovation and urban employment. Extended analysis reveals that, from a temporal perspective, AI innovation affects the scale of urban employment through both immediate and lagged effects, with the magnitude of these effects diminishing over time, and that the effects are cumulative and stage-specific; from a spatial perspective, AI innovation generates significant positive spatial spillover effects on employment in neighboring cities, thereby promoting the expansion of their employment scale. These findings provide theoretical and empirical support for governments to coordinate AI development and urban employment in a place-specific manner.