收入还是替代:子女数量与中国女性劳动参与

How does the Number of Children Affect the Labor Participation Rate of Married Women in Urban Areas?

中国正处于人口结构转变的关键时期,劳动人口数量和劳动力参与率直接关系到经济和社会发展的未来。本文基于2016年“中国劳动力动态调查”(简称CLDS)数据,实证分析子女数量对城镇已婚女性劳动参与率的影响。研究发现,子女数量与已婚妇女劳动参与率呈“倒U型”结构,曲线最高点处的子女数量位置值为2.48,当子女数量为1到2个时,子女数量对女性劳动参与率有积极影响,当子女数量大于2个时,子女数量对女性劳动参与率有消极影响;且城镇已婚女性的周工作小时数随着子女数量而明显增加。

China is in a dramatic demographic transition, and the labor force and labor participation rate are of great significances to the economic development of the country. This paper empirically studies the impact of the number of children in the family on the urban married women’s labor participation rates based on the data from China Labor Force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) 2016. The findings show that the number of children correlate with the labor participation rate of married women by an inverted U-curve. The peak of the curve is at 2.48 children, which means the female labor participation rate tend to be increased by number of children if they have 1 or 2 children, while the married women’s labor participation rate tend to be restrained negatively if they have more than 2 children. The working women’s weekly work hours increase as their number of children increases in the urban areas.