Labor Migration and Time Use Patterns of the Left-Behind Children and Elderly in Rural China

Hongqin Chang, Xiao-yuan Dong and Fiona MacPhail

Introduction: Chinas transition from a collective/planned to a private/market economy has been
marked by reduced state control over labor mobility since the mid-1980s resulting in a dramatic increase in internal migration from rural to urban areas. While the number of internal migrants is estimated to be over 180 million, migration remains temporary due to the residential registration system (hukou) and peoples need to maintain land user rights to provide themselves with some long term economic security. Indicative of the size of the left-behind population, almost 59 million children under the age of 18 years 28 per cent of rural children are left behind, living with only one parent (mostly mothers), grandparents or relatives (All China Womens Federation, 2008). Research Question: This paper seeks to answer the question: what is the impact of migration on time use patterns of left-behind children and elderly in rural China, 1997-2006. We focus upon the impacts of migration on time use of children (defined as 7 to 15 years) and the elderly (defined as 51 years and older) because in an earlier paper we analyzed the impact of economic development including migration on non-elderly women and men. The focus on time use complements studies which have considered the impacts on poverty (Du et al., 2005; Zhu & Luo, 2008) and nonincome dimensions such as depression and satisfaction of the elderly and school performance of children. Time use is a comprehensive measure of work that captures the amount of time worked in potentially multiple categories of work, including domestic work, a category of work which generates goods and services critical to well-being.

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES

30 million migrants (1980s) to 180 million migrants (2009) 59 million children (about 28%) are left-behind (ACWF 2008) Migration of one household member increases the work time of left-behind children and elderly Migration modifies the gender division of labor and reinforces traditional gender division of labor among children

PRESENTATION. [ PDF ]

Conceptual framework and hypotheses: The gendered division of labor within the household in rural China, as noted by anthropologists, is captured by the notion of a female-inside/male-outside dichotomy (Yu & Chau, 1997). Appropriate roles for women are viewed to be ones which support the family and take place inside the household; appropriate roles for men are those which provide for the family through activities outside of the household. An intergenerational division of labor exists in rural China with older household members, compared to younger members, providing fewer hours of work and working in different work categories (Zhang et al., 2004). In households with preschool children, a common division of labor between elderly women and the daughter-in-laws exists, with the latter working outside of the house (undertaking farm work, off-farm work and self-employment activities) and the former working inside the house (Chen, 2004). The impact of migration on left-behind peoples work time is theoretically ambiguous. Migrants remittances are expected to decrease work time of left-behind individuals. Further, migration reduces labor supply which theoretically increases wages (or shadow wages): the resulting price effect should induce an increase work time; whereas, the resulting income effect should decrease work time. While we nonetheless hypothesize that migration leads to an increase in work time of left-behind members given low levels of income, there is still the issue of the impacts on whom, and in what categories of work. More specifically then, we predict strongly gender differentiated impacts: (i) in off-farm work,

we expect an increase in work time for elderly men (due to gender norms and labor market discrimination against women); (ii) in farm work, we predict an increase work time for all remaining groups (to maintain user rights to land and due to limited wage labor); (iii) in domestic work, we expect an increase in work time for elderly women and girls (due to gender norms). Empirical methodology: The impact of migration on time worked of the elderly and children in the three work categories (off-farm, farm and domestic) is estimated using equation (1):

H t = 0 + 1 M i + I i ' 2 + Z t ' 3 + Vi ' 4 +

+ t + ut

(1)

In equation (1), H refers to time worked and M, the variable of primary interest, is the number of household members migrating. We control for other factors affecting migration including: I -- human capital; Z -- characteristics of the household; V --characteristics of local markets for labor and services and village infrastructure k, are unknown regression parameters; p and t are, respectively, a vector of province-fixed effects and time effects; and u is an error term. The data are drawn from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) which covers nine provinces. Data are pooled over the years 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2006 giving a sample size, on average per year, of 3,333 and 3,231 observations for elderly women and men, respectively, and 1,579 and 1,742 observations for girls and boys, respectively. Results: For the sample of elderly people, the proportion of individuals residing in households, with at least one member out-migrating, rose from 20 percent to 37 percent, and the number of migrants per household (with migrants) increased from 1.48 to 1.84, between 1997 and 2006. For the childrens sample, the percentage of children with at least one parent migrating increased from 5 to 11 percent over the period; and in most cases, it is the father who is migrating. The impacts of migration on time use generated from the multivariate analysis are summarized in the Table below (for details and for the impacts of other independent variables on time use, please see the full paper). For elderly women, the impact of one person migrating from the household is estimated to increase the work time on the farm by 197 hours per year and increase the participation rate by 12 percentage points. The additional 197 hours represents an increase in the total work time on farm work of 34 percent. For girls, the impact of one parent migrating increases the domestic work hours of girls on average by 0.8 hours per day (which amounts to 5.3 hours per week) and increases the participation rate in domestic work by 54 percentage points. If two people migrate from the same household, then the impacts are double.

IMPACTS OF MIGRATION (one person migrating) ON TIME USE

Elderly Women Elderly Men Impacts Change in hours % change in work burden Change in participation rate Change in hours % change in work burden Change in participation rate Change in hours Change in participation rate Change in hours Change in participation rate Change in hours Change in participation rate Farm Work 197 hours/year 34 % 12 % 104 hours/year 18 % 6% --114 hours/year 2% Domestic Work 0.5 hours/day 23 % 23 % 0.2 hours/day 26 % 7.5 % 0.8 hours/day 54 % 0.2 hours/day 27 % --

Girls Boys Girls and boys

Turning to the specific hypotheses: (i) for off-farm work, migration does not have a statistically significant impact on work time of either elderly men or women; (ii) for farm work, migration increases the work time, in descending order of impact, of elderly women, children, and elderly men; (iii) for domestic work, migration increases the work time, in descending order, of girls, elderly women, elderly men, and boys. The migration impacts on time use are strongly age and gender differentiated with the largest impacts being experienced by girls and elderly women. While the impacts in a given work category may appear small, it is important to keep in mind that work time is increasing in more than one work category so the cumulative work time increase may be large and is in addition to previous work time. Conclusion: The increased time and participation of elderly women in farm work, both in absolute terms and relative to men, is indicative of a changing gendered division of labor consistent with a shift in the boundary of inside work. While there is evidence of increased hours allocated by elderly women to farm work, further research is required on whether this increased time is associated with greater control over farming decisions and control within the household. There is also evidence of a change in the intergenerational division of labor, given the finding that migration of a household member leads to an increase in the hours allocated by the elderly, and particularly, elderly women, to domestic work. With respect to children, the finding that migration of a parent increases the domestic work of girls more than boys reinforces a traditional gendered division of labor. The increased workload could have adverse implications for girls well being when taking into account the intensity of work, the conditions under which the work is conducted and if the work is required to be done at certain times which may actually interfere with schooling. This paper, contributing to the literature on the non-income dimensions of the impact of migration on the left-behind population, raises issues requiring further investigation (as noted in the previous paragraph) and policy responses. Drawing upon the multivariate results of the non-migration variable impacts (not summarized here but shown in the full paper), investing in childcare and education services in rural areas can potentially reduce the work burden on the elderly and school-aged children. Policies enabling entire households to migrate to urban areas, should they so choose, could also reduce the work burden. To this end, further easing of restrictions on mobility, improving access to health, education and services in urban areas for entire migrant households, and improving long term economic security for migrants are important. *The full paper will appear in World Development, 2011, forthcoming.

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or 3