Employment adjustment under digital transformation is a multilevel outcome that depends not only on regional technical capability but also on the structural configuration and worker response conditions in which that capability is embedded. This study examines the relationship between provincial data-factor capability and individual employment in China by matching China Family Panel Studies data for 2012–2022 with a provincial DataIndex. Binary Logit models with province and year fixed effects reveal an age gradient: the employment association of DataIndex is positive for younger workers, weakens around midlife, and becomes negative at older ages. Province-year regressions further show that stronger data-factor capability is associated with industrial structure upgrading and greater regional innovation activity, while interaction tests indicate less favorable employment associations among agricultural-hukou and rural residents. These findings show that improvements in regional digital capability do not translate uniformly into employment gains. Instead, their labor-market consequences depend on worker adaptability and institutional and spatial conditions. The study therefore highlights the need to evaluate digital transformation not only through technological and structural progress, but also through the inclusiveness of its employment outcomes.

Ethiopia presents a compelling paradox in sustainable development: despite decades of rapid economic growth, improvements in human well-being have not been commensurate. This study examines the role of global economic integration in resolving this paradox by analyzing the impact of trade openness (TOP) and foreign direct investment (FDI) on human development in Ethiopia from 1991 to 2021. We hypothesize that this paradox arises because the benefits of trade and FDI operate primarily through an income-growth channel, with a weaker direct effect on health and education capabilities. Moving beyond the standard Human Development Index (HDI), we construct a modified index (HDI*) that excludes the income component, allowing us to disentangle direct effects on health and education from indirect effects mediated through economic growth. Using the ARDL bounds testing approach, we find that TOP and FDI have significantly stronger long-run effects on standard HDI (0.343 and 0.214, respectively) than on the non-income HDI* (0.235 and 0.136). This indicates that approximately one-third (31.5%) of TOP’s and over one-third (36.4%) of FDI’s total benefit is income-mediated, while the remainder reflects direct capability enhancement. The analysis further reveals that institutional quality significantly amplifies these benefits, whereas inflation specifically undermines non-income dimensions, highlighting the acute vulnerability of social sectors to macroeconomic instability. We conclude that the Ethiopian paradox stems not from a failure of growth but from its weak translation into direct, sustainable gains in health and education. We recommend policies to strengthen institutional governance, attract FDI into health and education sectors, lower trade barriers for agricultural exports, and use trade agreements to address structural trade deficits and promote sustainable human development.