Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China

ABSTRACT Maternity leave for women has been substantially extended in China since the 2016 maternity leave reform, but maternity leave length varies greatly across regions. On the one hand, women are more likely to engage in employment due to extended maternity leave. On the other hand, extended mat...

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Main Authors: Mingzhi Hu, Yinxin Su
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-05-01
Series:Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.70017
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author Mingzhi Hu
Yinxin Su
author_facet Mingzhi Hu
Yinxin Su
author_sort Mingzhi Hu
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Maternity leave for women has been substantially extended in China since the 2016 maternity leave reform, but maternity leave length varies greatly across regions. On the one hand, women are more likely to engage in employment due to extended maternity leave. On the other hand, extended maternity leave can increase the discrimination against women in the labour market and force them to enter into entrepreneurship. Exploiting the 2016 maternity leave reform as an exogenous change in maternity leave for women and employing a difference‐in‐differences framework, this study examines the effect of extended maternity leave on female labour force participation. Using data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we find that the maternity leave reform leads to an increase in entrepreneurship rate (employment rate) by 4.74 (1.76) percentage points for women without children, whereas this effect is insignificant for women with children and old women.
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series Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies
spelling doaj-art-ea6deef6f7d34c10accc78caf8608fa22025-08-20T03:14:28ZengWileyAsia & the Pacific Policy Studies2050-26802025-05-01122n/an/a10.1002/app5.70017Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in ChinaMingzhi Hu0Yinxin Su1School of Management Chinese Academy of Housing and Real Estate Zhejiang University of Technology Hangzhou ChinaSchool of Public Administration South China Agricultural University Guangzhou ChinaABSTRACT Maternity leave for women has been substantially extended in China since the 2016 maternity leave reform, but maternity leave length varies greatly across regions. On the one hand, women are more likely to engage in employment due to extended maternity leave. On the other hand, extended maternity leave can increase the discrimination against women in the labour market and force them to enter into entrepreneurship. Exploiting the 2016 maternity leave reform as an exogenous change in maternity leave for women and employing a difference‐in‐differences framework, this study examines the effect of extended maternity leave on female labour force participation. Using data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we find that the maternity leave reform leads to an increase in entrepreneurship rate (employment rate) by 4.74 (1.76) percentage points for women without children, whereas this effect is insignificant for women with children and old women.https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.70017
spellingShingle Mingzhi Hu
Yinxin Su
Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies
title Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
title_full Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
title_fullStr Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
title_full_unstemmed Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
title_short Extended Maternity Leave and Female Labour Supply: Evidence From a Regional Policy in China
title_sort extended maternity leave and female labour supply evidence from a regional policy in china
url https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.70017
work_keys_str_mv AT mingzhihu extendedmaternityleaveandfemalelaboursupplyevidencefromaregionalpolicyinchina
AT yinxinsu extendedmaternityleaveandfemalelaboursupplyevidencefromaregionalpolicyinchina