Abstract: The preferential policies and development potential of the Pilot Free Trade Zones are highly attractive to the people for employment. However, does the impact of the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zones on employment show the siphon effect of absorbing urban employment from the non-pilot free trade zones or the radiation effect of promoting urban employment in the non-pilot free trade zones? This issue is of great importance to stabilize employment and promote employment, which is the supreme work of people's livelihood. Based on the data of 285 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2016 and employing the DID method, this paper conducts an assessment of the employment effect of the Pilot Free Trade Zones. The results show that the establishment of the pilot FTZ has significantly improved the local employment level; its impact on the employment shows no siphon effect but radiation effect. The establishment of the pilot FTZ has promoted the employment of urban private and individual firms, the service industry, and the non-high-tech industries rather significantly, but the promotion effect on the employment of the high-tech industry is relatively smaller, while on the employment of the urban work units and the secondary industries this effect is not obvious. One important way for the pilot FTZs to promote employment is to increase the government expenditures.

Key words: pilot free trade zone, employment, siphon effect, radiation effect