Abstract: Achieving the optimal allocation of human capital is an important goal of China's talent strategy and a fundamental guarantee for the long-term balanced development of the Chinese economy. This paper employs the Difference-in-Differences method to examine whether national industrial policy support can help firms attract more highly educated employees. Firms in industries that are supported by industrial policies are designated as treatment group. The empirical research results show that compared to control group firms, the proportion of highly educated employees in the treatment group increased significantly during the period of national industrial policy support, thereby indicating that China's industrial policies can bring about a significant talents aggregation effect. Heterogeneity tests reveal that this talents aggregation effect is more pronounced in firms with weaker comprehensive competitiveness and higher financing constraints. Further research indicates that talents aggregation effect of industrial policies can significantly improve the medium and long-term performance of firms. Our research provides new empirical evidence for the assessment of the implementation effects of industrial policies. The conclusions drawn from the study offer valuable insights and serve as a reference for the implementation of China's industrial policies and the talent allocation strategy proposed at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Key words: industrial policy, talents aggregation, Difference-in-Differences method