Why is female labor force participation declining in China? A perspective from urban commuting

Shenglong Liu, Xingyu Pan, Yuanyuan Wan, Xiaoming Zhang and Shaojie Zhou

Journal of Development Economics, 2025, vol. 177, issue C

Abstract: The increase in commuting time due to traffic congestion is a widespread dilemma faced by most major cities worldwide. In addition to its impact on environmental pollution and personal health issues, it can negatively impact the labor supply. Utilizing microdata from China’s 1% population census data in 2015, we find that for every additional minute of commuting time, the probability of labor participation among married women decreases by an average of 0.5 percentage points. The variation in commuting time can explain about 40% of the differences in labor participation rates of married women across cities in our sample. Our study also sheds light on the puzzle of declining female labor participation in China over the past decade, specifically in the context of the nation’s rapid urban expansion and escalating commuting time.

Keywords: Commuting duration; Female labor participation; Traffic congestion; Potential urban form; 2SLS estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J22 O18 R14 R41 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:177:y:2025:i:c:s0304387825001130

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103562

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