Number of Children and Female Labor Participation in China

Ke Wang, Guitao Zhang, Mengru Yu, Yangfei Gao and Yangyan Shi
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Ke Wang: School of Statistics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250220, China
Guitao Zhang: Business School, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Mengru Yu: The Financial Department, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China
Yangfei Gao: School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2300, Australia
Yangyan Shi: Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-23

Abstract: The continuous decrease in the number of women of childbearing age and the consequent decrease in reproductive willingness have contributed to the continuous decrease in labor participation among Chinese women, which has negatively affected the stable socioeconomic development in terms of health. This paper deeply explores the intrinsic relationship between the number of children and women’s labor participation based on 2016 data from China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS). Our results show that there is an “inverted U-shaped” relationship between the number of children and the rate of women’s labor involvement; in other words, women’s labor participation shows a trend with the increase in the number of children, first rising and then falling; meanwhile, the relationship is more pronounced among women in eastern and central regions and towns. To this end, this study provides a theoretical research basis to effectively alleviate women’s selective pressure at home and work, and has a certain reference value for the Chinese government to improve women’s employment environment.

Keywords: number of children; female labor involvement; “inverted U-shaped” (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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