勞工流動及資訊流動的初探研究

Abstract

本研究主要是運用交通部1999年及2001年「台灣民眾使用網際網路狀況調查」及行政院主計處1996-2000年「人力運用調查」的原始資料，目的在探討勞工流動和資訊流動之關聯。本研究的重要性在於，面對網路之興起，相關的研究大都將注意力放在網路怎樣改變商品市場，有關網路及資訊流動的變動對勞動市場運作的影響及衝擊，反而較少著墨，故有關勞工流動及資訊流動關聯的研究是一種初步的嚐試。根據研究資料透露的訊息，勞工流動及資訊流動空間的型態相當一致，越是資訊充份的地方，當地的人民越能克服資訊的限制，勞工流動的比例就越高；相反的，在網路運用較差的地區勞工流動的比例就較低。因此，從網路運用、資訊流通程度的觀點切入，我們認為資訊在勞工流動決策過程中扮演很重要的角色，資訊越是流通對勞工流動就越有推波助瀾的效果。但是網路的運用並不必然打破每個人的時空限制障礙，網路資訊的運用對勞工流動的效果並不見得是全面促進的，而是有選擇性的。依研究初步成果及既有勞工流動文獻的發現，我們可間接推論在勞工流動及資訊運用的雙重選擇性機制下，台灣的勞動市場人力配置預期將會進一步呈現兩極化的現象。

Based on the 1999 and 2001 “Surveys on the Usage of Internet among the Taiwanese People” as well as the 1996-2000 “Manpower Utilization Surveys,” this article is a preliminary research on labor migration and spatial information flows. The significance of this research lies in the fact that in light of emerging internet and accelerating information flows, little has been explored on the relationship between labor migration and information and the extent to which changing information flows affect manpower redistribution in the labor market. Our research indicates that the aggregate spatial pattern of labor flows is in highly accordance with the spatial information flows, suggesting that those who are more capable of acquiring information are more prone to migrate. On the other hand, those residing in information-rich places appear to have higher mobility propensity, suggesting that information-rich places help overcome the so-called information constraint of migration. Nevertheless, our preliminary research results could implicitly suggest that the emergence of internet does not have an overwhelmingly homogeneous effect on overcoming information constraint among the ordinary people, because the use of internet and the ability to process information is highly selective in terms of personal characteristics and individual socioeconomic status. Due to this sort of double selecting mechanism, it could be inferred that the emergence of internet is expected to exhibit more polarizing than homogenizing effect on manpower redistribution in the Taiwanese labor market.