Abstract: Promoting innovation in industrial chain policies is essential for enhancing national economic resilience, safeguarding industrial security, and gaining a competitive edge in the global arena. It also serves as an accelerator for fostering common prosperity. Using a difference-in-differences model and data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023, this study investigates the impact of the“Chain Leader System”policy on firms’ labor income share. The empirical results reveal that the“Chain Leader System”policy significantly increases firms’ labor income share. The analysis identifies the upgrading of human capital structure and improvements in resource allocation efficiency as key underlying mechanisms. Heterogeneity tests show that the“Chain Leader System”policy has a more pronounced impact on firms facing high financing constraints, non-state-owned enterprises, those operating in highly market-oriented regions, and firms in non-high-tech industries. Further analysis indicates that compared with senior executives, the“Chain Leader System”policy has a pronounced effect on increasing the labor income share of ordinary employees, thereby narrowing internal wage disparities and significantly improving total factor productivity. To this end, it is necessary to enhance precise policy implementation, increase support for different enterprises, establish a collaborative cultivation mechanism, and strengthen the policy evaluation and feedback mechanism, to promote the increase of the labor income share.

Key words: “Chain Leader System”, firms’ labor income share, human capital structure, resource allocation efficiency, total factor productivity