Impact of the Liberalization of Fertility Policy on the Female Labor Market Under Different Educational Backgrounds: Empirical Analysis Based on CFPS Data

Abstract

Fertility policy is an important public policy to promote population structure optimization and economic and social development in China. Based on CFPS data from 2016, 2018 and 2020, this paper evaluates the impact of universal two-child policy and three-child policy on female labor market in different educational backgrounds by using the method of differential and differential analysis. The research shows that the liberalization of the policy will reduce the employment rate of female labor. Under the policy, the older labor force and the lower education will suffer more discrimination in employment. In addition, compared with highly educated women, women with low education have a higher willingness to have multiple children, indicating that the liberalization of the birth policy has a more significant impact on the employment of women with low education. In contrast, the phenomenon of low fertility level and fertility rate in highly educated families may further rise, and further aggravate the imbalance of fertility rate in China. The research in this paper provides empirical evidence for evaluating the impact of the implementation of the fertility policy on the female labor market.