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Childcare, Eldercare, and Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Urban China: 1982 - 2000

Author

Listed:
  • Maurer-Fazio, Margaret

    (Bates College)

  • Connelly, Rachel

    (Bowdoin College)

  • Lan, Chen

    (affiliation not available)

  • Tang, Lixin

    (Bates College)

Abstract

We employ data from the three most recent Chinese population censuses to consider married, urban women's labor force participation decisions in the context of their families and their residential locations. We are particularly interested in how the presence in the household of preschool and school-age children and/or the elderly and disabled affects women's likelihood of engaging in work outside the home. We find that the presence of older people in the household (any parent or parent-in-law and any person aged 75 or older) significantly increases prime-age urban women's likelihood of participating in market work and that presence of pre-school age children significantly decreases it. The negative effect on women's labor force participation of having young children in the household (compared to no children in the household) is substantially larger in magnitude for married, migrant women than for married, non-migrant urban residents. This appears to be explained, in part, by the practice of married, female migrants leaving their children in the care of relatives in rural areas in order to facilitate their employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Connelly, Rachel & Lan, Chen & Tang, Lixin, 2009. "Childcare, Eldercare, and Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Urban China: 1982 - 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 4204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4204
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migrants; eldercare; childcare; China; labor force participation; population census; urban women;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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