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. 2019:51:365-396.
doi: 10.1080/21620555.2019.1635879. Epub 2019 Jul 26.

Stark Choices: Work-family Trade-offs among Migrant Women and Men in Urban China

Menghan Zhao  1 , Emily Hannum  2
Affiliations

Stark Choices: Work-family Trade-offs among Migrant Women and Men in Urban China

Menghan Zhao et al. Chin Sociol Rev. 2019.

Abstract

China's so-called "floating population" of rural-urban labor migrants includes rising numbers of couples and families migrating together. Labor market outcomes may differ for migrant men and women, in part due to family obligations, but few recent studies have investigated this possibility. This paper focuses on the relationship of labor outcomes with family obligations among migrant men and women and considers whether this relationship differs among those with higher and lower earnings potential. We perform nested logit models of employment status and OLS regression analyses of income, using a nationally-representative survey collected in 2013. For migrant women, childcare responsibilities are negatively associated with employment and income. In contrast, for migrant men, being co-resident with children has no bearing on probability of being employed full-time and is sometimes positively associated with income. Further, the "motherhood penalty" in income is most pronounced among migrant women with the least education. Results illustrate the embeddedness of individual migration decisions and outcomes within families. Findings also highlight a stark choice facing many migrant women: between earning for their children and living with them.

Keywords: family-work conflict; floating population; gender differences; migration; motherhood penalty.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predicted Probabilities of Married Women’s Employment Status by Family Circumstances
Figure 2
Figure 2
Predicted Probabilities of Married Men’s Employment Status by Family Circumstances
Figure 3
Figure 3. Ratio of Monthly Income of Migrant Men to Women
Note: The ratio is not shown for those who are age 24 or young and have children at school age because of limited observations in this group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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