中国家庭儿童间接养育成本测度——基于收入与闲暇视角

Measuring the Indirect Costs of Child Raising in Chinese Families——Based on Income and Leisure

中国生育政策放开后生育率依然处于较低水平,家庭儿童养育成本居高不下是其重要原因。党的二十大报告明确指出“优化人口发展战略,建立生育支持政策体系,降低生育、养育、教育成本”,表明党中央对完善生育支持政策高度重视。制定有效的生育支持政策需要以合理测度家庭儿童养育成本为基础。家庭儿童养育成本分为直接成本和间接成本,目前相关研究对中国家庭儿童间接养育成本测度关注不足。为此,本研究借鉴现有对儿童间接养育成本的测度方法,将间接成本细分为收入损失成本和闲暇时间成本两部分,构建不同孩次的儿童间接养育成本测度模型,利用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,对中国家庭儿童间接养育成本进行测度。结果显示:对女性而言,以2020年价格水平估算,生育一孩导致月工资收入下降约432元(占一孩母亲平均工资约17.1%),月闲暇时间下降约30.7小时;生育二孩月工资收入下降约289元,月闲暇时间下降约14.7小时;生育三孩月工资收入下降约172元,月闲暇时间下降约10.9小时;一孩的间接养育成本高昂,不论是收入损失成本还是闲暇时间成本,一孩的间接养育成本几乎都是二孩和三孩的间接养育成本之和。对比2016年、2018年和2020年的CFPS数据发现:中国家庭儿童间接养育成本呈现明显的增加趋势。异质性分析表明:城镇母亲儿童间接养育成本高于农村母亲;高学历母亲儿童间接养育成本高于低学历母亲,且受教育水平差异带来的儿童间接养育成本差距程度大于城乡差异;0-5岁年龄段儿童间接养育成本高于6-11岁年龄段儿童,0-5岁年龄段儿童一孩的收入损失成本约为675元/月,闲暇时间成本约为38.3小时/月;6-11岁年龄段儿童一孩的收入损失成本约为441.8元/月,闲暇时间成本约为34.1小时/月。本研究测度的结果远高于现有文献测度的中国家庭儿童间接养育成本。国家应重视家庭儿童间接养育成本,采取生育支持政策以降低儿童的养育成本,尤其是建议加大对生育一孩的相关政策支持力度,为生育率的稳步回升建立基础。

Despite the liberalization of China’s fertility policy,the fertility rate is still at low level,and the high cost of raising children in the family is an important reason for this.The report of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC)clearly states:“Optimize the population develop⁃ment strategy,set up a system of fertility support policies,and reduce the costs of childbearing,upbringing and education”,indicating that the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the improvement of fertility support policies.The formulation of an effective fertility support policy needs to be based on a reasonable measurement of the costs of raising children in a family.The costs of child rearing in the family are divided into direct and indirect costs.Relevant studies in the academic field have not paid enough atten⁃tion to the measurement of indirect costs of child rearing in Chinese families.Drawing on existing measures,this study divides indirect costs of child rearing into two parts:the cost of lost income and the cost of leisure time.A model was constructed to measure the indirect costs of child rearing for different children,and the data from the China Family Panel Survey(CFPS)were used to measure the indirect costs of child rearing for Chinese families.The results show that for women,estimated at 2020 price level,having one child leads to a decrease in monthly wage income of about RMB 432(accounting for about 17.1%of the average wage of mothers of one child)and a decrease in monthly leisure time of about 30.7 hours;having two children leads to a decrease in monthly wage income of about RMB 289 and a decrease in monthly leisure time of about 14.7 hours;having three children leads to a decrease in monthly wage income of about RMB 172 and a decrease in monthly leisure time of about 10.9 hours;among them,the indirect costs of child rearing of one child is high,whether it is the cost of lost income or the cost of leisure time,the indirect costs of child rearing of one child is almost the sum of the indirect child-rearing cost of two and three children.Compar⁃ing the CFPS data for 2016,2018 and 2020,it is found that the indirect costs of child rearing of Chinese families show a clear increasing trend.Heterogeneity analyses based on urban and rural areas,education levels,and children of different ages show that:the indirect costs of child rearing of urban mothers are higher than those of rural mothers;the indirect costs of child rearing of highly educated mothers are higher than those of mothers with low education,and the extent of the gap in children’s indirect costs of child rearing brought about by differences in education levels is greater than that between urban and rural areas;and the indirect costs of child rearing in the age group of 0-5 years old are higher than those of children in the age group of 6-11 years old.The cost of lost income for one child in the 0-5 age group is about RMB 675/month and the cost of leisure time is about 38.3 hours/month;the cost of lost income for one child in the 6-11 age group is about RMB 441.8/month and the cost of leisure time is about 34.1 hours/month.The results measured in this study are much higher than the indirect costs of child rearing for Chinese families as measured in the existing literature.Therefore,it is emphasized that policy makers should pay more attention to the indirect costs of child rearing for Chinese families,and relevant policy implications for reducing the indirect costs of child rearing are proposed.It is recommended to increase the strength of supportive policies related to the birth of one child to establish a foundation for a steady rebound in the fertility rate.