Abstract: The 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality and full employment, enhance the public employment service system, and focus on addressing structural employment contradictions. In this context, it is particularly important to delve into the factors influencing corporate labor employment decisions. An empirical study based on the data from the listed companies and their subsidiaries in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2007 to 2022 shows that when monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) increases, corporate groups can maintain the stability of labor employment through cross-regional and cross-industry resource allocation strategies. Specifically, MPU will inhibit the scale of corporate labor employment through real options effects and financial frictions, while corporate groups can mitigate the real options effect by internal labor allocation and weaken the financial frictions through internal capital allocation, thereby maintaining the overall stability of labor employment scale. This effect is more pronounced in private enterprises and corporate groups with financing constraints. Additionally, under the impact of MPU, corporate groups can continuously optimize labor employment structures through internal resource allocation to reduce the impact of external risks. Based on the aforementioned research conclusions, to address employment challenges in a complex economic environment, the government should further enhance the robustness of monetary policy, increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthen labor protection and the construction of the social security system, and focus on balancing economic and social benefits.

Key words: business group, labor employment decision-making, internal labor market, internal capital market