Effects Of Childcare,Housework On Female Labour Participation And Working Hours

At a time when population ageing is accelerating,population issues have become an important issue.In August 2021,the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress voted to amend the Law on Population and Family Planning.A couple can have three children.The State will also reduce the burden on families through financial and taxation measures.Women,as the main childbearing group,are likely to face more severe pressure from both family and work under the’three-child’ policy.It is therefore important to explore the impact of childcare and domestic work on women’s labour force participation and hours of work.This paper analyses the effects of childcare and housework on women’s labour force participation and hours of work using data from the CFPS database.The empirical results show that:childcare responsibilities reduce women’s labour force participation and hours of work,and having children aged 0-3 years significantly reduces women’s labour force participation and hours of work;each additional hour of household work reduces women’s labour force participation by 0.8%and hours of work by 0.891 hours.Further analysis of heterogeneity in child care and domestic work was conducted and the estimates showed some heterogeneity among women in terms of educational attainment,age,urban and rural household size,and geography.In addition,to address endogeneity,the paper uses the elimination of elasticity difference variable method,propensity score matching method and instrumental variables method for sample analysis,which show consistent results.Finally,the moderating effects of internet use,public service inputs and spousal household work on reducing female family caregiving stress are considered.The estimation results show that internet use,public services and spousal provision of highly satisfying household chores are effective in increasing female labour force participation rates and increasing female labour hours.Based on the above findings,this paper puts forward three relevant recommendations,namely,the reasonable allocation of family care responsibilities,the promotion of the development of flexible forms of office work,and the increase of investment in public services.Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of women in labour and employment and reducing the pressure on women’s families will have an important role in promoting the release of surplus female labour in China,increasing the labour force participation rate and promoting sustainable and stable economic development.