中国教育扩张之谜的供给侧解释:女性就业与行业工资

The Puzzle of Rapid Education Expansion in China:Female Employment and Teacher Wages in Supply Side

教育扩张对中国经济奇迹的重要贡献已经得到了较好诠释,但为何在公共教育经费不足的前提下能够实现快速教育扩张,仍有待深入研究。文章通过构建单误差成分的面板数据联立方程模型,实证检验了女性就业比例、教育行业相对工资与中等后教育扩张之间的关系。3SLS回归结果发现,教育行业女性就业比例上升显著地降低了教育行业的相对工资;而教育行业相对较低的工资水平,则支撑了快速的中等后教育1扩张。原因在于,虽然教育行业的相对工资比较低,但就业稳定性和就业保障度较高,女性劳动者愿意选择相对更稳定的工作而放弃部分货币收入。在政府性教育经费投入长期不足的背景下,教育行业可以聘用更高比例的女性将相对工资维持在较低水平,控制教育成本,从而实现快速的中等后教育扩张和人力资本积累。由高女性就业比例、低工资水平所支撑的中等后教育扩张,对经济社会长期发展的影响还有待研究。但是,教育行业的低工资水平可能不利于提升教职工工作积极性和吸引更多优秀人才进入教育行业,未来应当提高教育行业的平均工资水平。

It is well discussed and elaborated that the education in China has contributed greatly to China＇ s economy growth miracle. However, it needs further studies that why China＇ s education can expand so fast without school funding from governments. By constructing a simultaneous equation model for panel data with single error component, this paper empirically examines the relationships among the ratio of female employment, relative wages in education sector and the expansion of post-secondary education in China. 3SLS regression results show that the increase in the share of women employment in education sector significantly reduces the relative wages in education sector, and a relatively low wage level in education sector also supports the rapid expansion of post-secondary education. The reason lies in that, although the relative wages in education sector are relatively low, higher stability and security of employment in education sector have attracted more and more women workers who are willing to choose a relatively more stable job and give up a part of the money income. Due to inadequate government funding for education for a long time, the education sector can hire a higher proportion of women to keep the relative wages at a low level, so as to control the costs of education and enable rapid expansion of post-secondary education and human capital accumulation. The long-term impacts of post-secondary education expansion, which is supported by the high proportion of female employment and low wages, on the economic and social development need further studies. However, the low wage level in education sector may not be conducive to enhancing staff enthusiasm and attracting more talented people into the education sector, therefore the average wage level in the education sector should be increased in the future.