The Study On Estimation Of The Economic Value Of Chinese Residents' Unpaid Work

To estimate the economic value of residents' unpaid work means a lot to the development of society and economy,national economic accounting,the improvement of residents' living standard and the upgrading of public policies.Based on the data of a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics on the use of time by Chinese citizens across the nation in 2008,this article estimates the economic value of unpaid labor of 37,142 residents in the provinces under survey,and conducts relevant theoretical and policy analysis based on the results of estimation.The main contents of study include:1.Based on the data of survey on time use in 2008,a statistical descriptive analysis is conducted on the means of time use(that is,time allocation for four major comprehensive activities: personal activities,paid labor,unpaid labor and recreation)and the average time of unpaid labor of the population under survey in terms of gender,age,urban and rural areas,marital status,employment,education background,monthly income and commuting distance.2.Based on the basic estimation principle of investment methods,the method of opportunity cost substitution and the method of market cost substitution are used respectively to estimate the economic value of residents' unpaid labor.In the method of opportunity cost substitution,the data of time use survey(TUS)and the data of urban and rural household income and expenditure survey(CHIPS)are consolidated,and the propensity score matching(PSM)is used to acquire the paid market wage rate of residents under survey participating in the labor market;the Heckman two-step estimation and the Mincer wage equation are used to estimate the reservation wages of residents under survey not participating in the labor market;the above two wage rates are taken as the substitute rate of pay for unpaid labor,and the group average wage rate separate substitute method and the group average wage rate whole substitute method are adopted respectively to estimate the value of residents' unpaid labor.In the market cost substitute method,one or several market substitute occupations(type of work)are found for each item of residents method are ado and the Minimum Wage Benchmark of Human Resources Market issued by the Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security of various prefectures and cities is used to acquire the rate of pay for relevant market substitute occupations as the substitute rate of pay for unpaid labor,and the professional market cost substitute method and the comprehensive market cost substitute method are adopted respectively to estimate the economic value of residents' unpaid labor.Relevant theoretical and policy analyses are conducted based on the results of estimation.3.The TUS data and the CHIPS data are consolidated,and the PSM method is used to acquire the relevant family factor data of the residents under survey;combing with the TUS personal factor data and the social and economic factor data acquired from relevant statistical data,the truncation data model,the censored data model and seemingly unrelated regression(SUR)analysis are adopted respectively to examine the influence mechanisms of personal factors,family factors and social and economic factors on the time of unpaid labor and residents' method of time use(how to allocate time among paid work,unpaid labor and non-productive activities).4.Relevant issues of inequality are studied based on the results of estimation of the economic value of residents' unpaid labor.The economic value of residents' unpaid labor and tangible monetary income are combined to constitute residents' expanded income,and the issue of income inequality under expanded income is studied by starting from the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient.Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient are used to analyze the inequality on unpaid family care time.The concentration curve and the concentration index are used to analyze the relationship between family unpaid care time and family income level.