Abstract: To optimize human capital allocation is an important way to promote the high quality economic development. This paper makes a theoretical and empirical study based on the data of China Family Panel Studies. The findings show that Internet penetration can significantly reduce the degree of individual job mismatch and reduce job mismatch through the information improvement effect and the thick labor market effect. It is also found in further distinguishing the types of mismatch that Internet penetration mainly reduces the probability of individual over-education. The result of the heterogeneity analysis shows that the Internet penetration has significantly reduced the job mismatch degree in the samples of the western region, the urban area and the private enterprises. In addition, it has reduced the job mismatch degree in the male sample, the sample of persons under 50 years old, and the sample of rural households. The above results show that Internet popularization can help to improve the efficiency of human capital allocation and promote high-quality employment, thereby promoting economic development.

Key words: Internet penetration, human capital misallocation, job mismatch, information improvement effect, thick labor market effect