Employment Transitions and the Household Division of Labor in China

Highlighting one aspect of the economic transition in China (industrialization), this article focuses on how a change in employment from an agricultural to a non-agricultural job could change the household division of labor. Longitudinal analysis of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey showed that such job shifts affected the household division of labor in different directions and magnitude, depending upon which spouse changed jobs. If the husband changed from an agricultural to a non-agricultural job, he cut back on housework, thereby increasing the difference in the number of hours of housework each spouse performed. If the wife experienced such a job change, the reduction in her housework hours was twice that of her husband's, reducing the difference between their shares of household duties.