Internet use, employment performance and the health of Chinese residents

Using data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey 2016, this study examines the effects of Internet use on Chinese resident health and the role of employment performance in this process. The results show that Internet use had a significant positive effect on the health of Chinese residents. After addressing potential endogeneity by applying appropriate instrumental variable estimation, the main findings remain robust. Heterogeneity analysis found that the Internet is conducive to improving the health of older, less-educated and female residents, which suggests that the Internet can narrow the health gap of residents with different ages, education levels and genders. Through the analysis of the impact mechanism, it was found that although Chinese residents can improve their health by enhancing their employment performance with the help of the Internet, the mediating effect accounts for <20%, indicating that the role of employment performance in the process of improving the health of Chinese residents through Internet use is very limited. Finally, suggestions are given to promote the healthy development of China via the effects of Internet use.