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Economic transition and the motherhood wage penalty in urban China: investigation using panel data

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  • Nan Jia
  • Xiao-Yuan Dong

Abstract

China's economic transition has fundamentally changed the mechanisms for allocating and compensating labour. This paper investigates how the economic transition has affected the wage gap between mothers and childless women in urban China using panel data for the period 1990–2005. The results show that overall, mothers earned considerably less than childless women; additionally, the wage penalties for motherhood went up substantially from the gradualist reform period (1990–96) to the radical reform period (1999–2005). The results also show that that although motherhood does not appear to have a significant wage effect for the state sector, it imposes substantial wage losses for mothers in the non-state sector. These findings suggest that the economic transition has shifted part of the cost of childbearing and -rearing from the state and employers back to women, in the form of lower earnings for working mothers. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Nan Jia & Xiao-Yuan Dong, 2013. "Economic transition and the motherhood wage penalty in urban China: investigation using panel data," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(4), pages 819-843.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:37:y:2013:i:4:p:819-843
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bes044
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    Cited by:

    1. Hare, Denise, 2016. "What accounts for the decline in labor force participation among married women in urban China, 1991–2011?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 251-266.
    2. Ye Liu, 2023. "As the Two-Child Policy Beckons: Work–Family Conflicts, Gender Strategies and Self-Worth among Women from the First One-Child Generation in Contemporary China," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 20-38, February.
    3. Xueqian Chen, 2024. "The Gendered Division of Housework in China: Parenthood Effects and Heterogeneity Across Parenthood Stages," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-33, April.
    4. Leila Gautham, 2022. "It Takes a Village: Childcare and Women's Paid Employment in India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(3), pages 795-828, September.
    5. Zhongjin Li & Ying Chen & Yang Zhan, 2022. "Building community-centered social infrastructure: a feminist inquiry into China’s COVID-19 experiences," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 303-321, April.
    6. Denise Hare, 2018. "Examining The Timing Of Women'S Retirement In Urban China: A Discrete Time Hazard Rate Approach," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 451-466, July.
    7. Liangshu Qi & Xiao-Yuan Dong, 2013. "Housework Burdens, Quality of Market Work Time, and Men’s and Women’s Earnings in China," Departmental Working Papers 2013-01, The University of Winnipeg, Department of Economics.
    8. Nie, Peng & Peng, Xu & Luo, Tianyuan, 2023. "Internet use and fertility behavior among reproductive-age women in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    9. de Bruin, Anne & Liu, Na, 2020. "The urbanization-household gender inequality nexus: Evidence from time allocation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Menghan Zhao, 2018. "From Motherhood Premium to Motherhood Penalty? Heterogeneous Effects of Motherhood Stages on Women’s Economic Outcomes in Urban China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(6), pages 967-1002, December.
    11. Lijuan Cao & Jing Zhu & Hua Liu, 2023. "Research performance, academic promotion, and gender disparities: Analysis of data on agricultural economists in Chinese higher education," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 307-326, March.
    12. Shichao Du, 2023. "Childbearing Risk, Job Sectors, and the Motherhood Wage Penalty," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(2), pages 1-19, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

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