Unpaid Care and Labor Supply of Middle-aged Men and Women in Urban China Lan Liu Institute of Population Research, Peking University Xiaoyuan Dong Department of Economics, University of Winnipeg China-India Feminist Economics Workshop, Sep 26-28, Kunming

Outline Introduction Literature review Methods and data Results Conclusions

Introduction In urban China, the majority of care for a person with a disability, severe medical condition, or who are old, young, sick, paralyzed, or pregnant is provided by family members without getting paid. Informal care, or the provision of unpaid, voluntary care to children, elderly or disabled family members and friends, is an increasingly common experience for both men and women in late midlife. Because this is also a time in the life course when men and women’s labor force participation peaks, many men and women faced with caregiving demands have to decide how to balance them with their labor supply.

The impact of later adulthood caregiving roles on the labor supply, however, is not well understood. It is therefore of great interest to investigate empirically if providing unpaid care to family members affects the caregivers’ probability of being employed and the relative work hours. In this study we use data derived from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the causal relationship between unpaid care and the labor supply of middle-aged men and women in urban China, and to explore the gender differences. Introduction

Literature review Unpaid care and work for men and women To examine association between care and (1) probability of employment (2) hours worked or (3) wages for men and women separately (Carmichael and Charles 2003; Bolin et al. 2008; Ciani 2012;Van Houtven et al 2013; Nguyen and Connelly 2014) and (4) retirement (Jacobs, et al 2014). Some studies found stronger work effects for women caregivers compared to men (Carmichael and Charles 2003; Do 2008) while others do not (Johnson and LoSasso 2006; Bolin et al. 2008). Women are more involved in unpaid care, more likely to be main carers and care for longer hours than men (Carmichael and Charles 2003; Lee and Tang 2013).

Literature review Research questions Literatures above are either from the UK, Germany, and other European countries, or the United States, any research on unpaid care and work for both men and women in urban China has not been attempted. How does unpaid care influence the middle-aged men and women’s employment and work hours? What are the differences of the effects of unpaid care on middle- aged men and women’s labor supply?

Methods and data Equations Probit, and OLS model have be applied to estimate the equations Endogeneity concerns Unpaid care and labor supply may be endogenous The two-stage IV estimation

Methods and data Data The data was from the 2010 wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) which was a nationally representative, annual longitudinal survey of Chinese communities, families, and individuals launched by the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University, China.

Methods and data Sample size In the 2010 wave, 14,960 households were included in the sample and interviews were conducted with all family members, resulting in a total sample of 57,120. Our sample size was restricted to men ( n =1,289), and women ( n=1,233 ) aged in urban China.

Methods and data Measurement: dependent variable A binary indicator of labor force participation based on the question: Do you currently have a job? Work hours per day based on the question: How many hours per day did you work during the working days in the last year?

Methods and data Measurement: independent variables Unpaid care hours per day based on the question: In the last month that was not a vacation, how many hours per day on average did you spend participating in taking care of family members which refers to taking care of old, young, sick, paralyzed, or pregnant family members without getting paid. Controlled variables: age, education, spouse’s age/education/income, family assets, good self-reported health, age structure of co-resident family members, and provincial dummies.

Methods and data Measurement: instrumental variables Numbers of siblings alive Numbers of the spouse’s siblings alive Mother/father/mother-in-law/father-in-law alive Age of mother/father/mother-in-law/father-in-law

Results ● For women, more proportion of caregivers, longer hours of caregiving than men. ● For both men and women caregivers, less percent working and work hours than non-caregivers.

Results ● There existed high percent caregiving near retirement age. ● For caregivers, percent working and work hours declined when age increased, with more serious for women than men.

Results For men caregivers: less proportion of LFP, and less work hours.

Results For women caregivers: less proportion of LFP, and less work hours.

Results For both men and women, negative effects of unpaid care on LFP

Results For both men and women, negative effects of unpaid care on work hours

Results

Conclusions ● Unpaid care has negative effect on middle-aged men and women’s LFP and work hours. ● There are gender differences of unpaid care on middle-aged men and women’s labor supply. For women: ---more proportion as the unpaid caregivers and care for longer hours than men; ---stronger negative effect on women’s probability of LFP, whereas less negative impact on work hours than men.

Conclusions ● For the middle-aged people who nearly approached retirement age, policy measures should be introduced to reduce the conflicts of caregiving responsibility and labor supply especially the negative effect of unpaid care on the caregivers’ capabilities to participate in the high-paying sector and their well-being, etc. ● Policy measures concerning unpaid care and labor supply, and retirement policy should need to be directed at both men and women, and take the gender differences into account.

Thanks