Non-Farm Work, Maternal Care and Child Health: Evidence from Rural China. (in Chinese. with English Summary.)
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China's rural economy has undergone dramatic structural changes since the country embarked on the path of market reforms in the late 1970s. These changes have altered patterns of women's labor force participation, with consequences for children's welfare. In this paper, we examine the effects of maternal labor supply on children's health in rural China. With data from the China Economic, Population, Nutrition, and Health Survey (CHNS), We find that that an increase of a mother's working hours reduces her time available for children and consequently has a negative effect on child health, while the additional income it generated contributes to improving child's nutritional status. With the labor hour effect outweighing the income effect; maternal work overall shows a small negative effect on child health, and the effect is more pronounced for non-farm work than farm activities. These results suggest that economic structural changes have intensified he conflict of women's dual roles as income earners and as caregivers.
JOUR
Liu, Jing
2008
Jingji Yanjiu/Economic Research Journal
43
9
136-149
05779154
669