Abstract:
This paper empirically analyzes the impact of childcare costs on the labor force
participation and childcare utilization of migrant and local mothers of preschool-aged
children in urban China using data from the 2010 National Dynamic Monitoring
Survey of Floating Populations.
The estimates show that childcare costs have a strong
negative effect on the labor force participation and childcare utilization of migrant and
local mothers. Compared to local mothers, the labor force participation of migrant
mothers is more sensitive to changes in childcare costs, while the opposite pattern is
observed for the response of childcare utilization. The analysis indicates that the labor
force participation and childcare choices of migrant mothers are more constrained by
the lack of access to affordable childcare than are local mothers in China.
https://genderlibrary.org/a/images/papers/April%202018%20pg122.pdf