The Role of Spatial Spillover Index of the Development of Information and Communication Technology of Manufacturing Industries on the Employment of the Industry Sector in Iran's Provinces

the aim of the present research is to investigate the impact of spatial spillovers in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Development Index on the employment of the industrial sector in Iran's provinces. The study utilized the data from the manufacturing industries of 31 provinces in the country from 2002-2020 to examine the impact of people's access to telecommunications and communication services and the share of industries with hardware and software capital stock of computers on employment; therefore the model was estimated by using panel data in the frame of a spatial Durbin model. The results indicate that industrial sector employment was significantly and positively impacted by spatial spillovers resulting from variables like value-added and energy intensity. Also, the results of the impact of ICT on industrial employment show that the index of people's access to telecommunication and communication services in manufacturing industries has a decreasing effect on the industrial sector employment of the country; It means a one percent increase in this index has reduced the industrial employment of each province by 0.072 percent and neighboring provinces by 0.167 percent, which will result in a 0.239 percent decrease in the employment of the entire industry sector. While the results of the index of the share of industries with software and hardware capital stock of computers show the effect of job creation; So that a one percent increase in ICT capital stock has increased employment in each province by 0.02 percent and spatial spillovers of neighboring provinces by 0.202 percent and has led overall to a 0.222 percent increase in the employment of the entire industry sector of Iran.