Homeownership and public sector employment: Evidence from the removal of home purchase restrictions in China

Abstract

This paper utilizes a quasi-experiment in China that removed home purchase restrictions (HPR) in 2014 to examine the causal effect of homeownership on public sector employment through a difference-in-differences (DID) approach. Combining the 2012, 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and the 2011, 2013, 2015 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we find that removing the HPR significantly decreases the probability of working in the public sector by 47 %, this negative effect holds for both homeowners and renters. The mechanism analyses show that firstly, removing the HPR increases house prices, which makes homeowners more resistant to possible unemployment shock, and thus reduces the attractiveness of the public sector, which is called as the wealth buffer channel; secondly, the rising house prices discourages renters to work in the public sector, where workers are paid lower wages and struggle to afford a more expensive house in the future, this is the home purchase channel; thirdly, as the HPR in China, is a prevailing Hukou¹-based discriminatory policy, the removal of HPR makes local Hukou no longer necessary to qualify for buying a house, and then reduce the propensity of public sector employment, that is the homeownership eligibility channel. In addition, it is found that the impact of removing the HPR is larger for unmarried males who have a higher likelihood of buying a house to improve their competitiveness in the marriage market. Lastly, there are greater negative effects for young workers and employees with children.