The impact of husband's work disability on wife's employment decisions in rural China.

Abstract

Work disability has become a global public health problem and places a considerable burden on individuals and families. This paper uses data from the China Labor-force Dynamic Survey to investigate the impact of husband's work disability on wife's employment decisions in rural areas of China. Estimation results do not indicate a disability-related added worker effect but show a significant caregiver effect; wives of disabled husbands experience a reduction in the likelihood of employment participation. Results also show that a husband's work disability leads to a lower likelihood that the wife will engage in self-employment rather than wage employment. This may be because the flexibility of self-employment helps women to adjust their labor patterns to care for disabled husbands. The mechanism analysis demonstrates that the disability of husbands does lead to a greater likelihood that the wife will provide more care to the family while at the same time, increasing the household health expenditure.