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Husbands' wages and married women's labor supply in urban China

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  • Zhu, Mengbing
  • Xing, Chunbing
  • Li, Yi

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impact of husbands' wages on married women's labor force participation (extensive margin) and hours worked (intensive margin) in urban China from 1995 to 2018. We emphasize that changes in a husband's wages alter each spouse's relative contribution to the household, thus highlighting the important role of gender identity norms in the association between husbands' wages and married women's labor supply. We find that a 1% increase in husbands' wages is associated with a 0.018 percentage point decrease in married women's labor force participation and a decrease of 1.45 h worked annually. When gender identity norms are controlled, these numbers increase to 0.024 and 1.94, respectively. Additionally, we observe significant heterogeneous effects for wives of different ages and education levels and with varying numbers of children. The negative association between husbands' wages and women's hours worked has become stronger over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Mengbing & Xing, Chunbing & Li, Yi, 2023. "Husbands' wages and married women's labor supply in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:82:y:2023:i:c:s1043951x23001542
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2023.102069
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Husbands' wages; Female labor force participation; Hours worked; Gender identity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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