Urbanization, female employment, and family care choice

Abstract

Abstract This paper studies new changes in elderly care in urban areas against the background of population aging with data from the China Social Survey 2021. The study revealed that urban families mainly adopt two models—the “living-with-the-elderly” model and the “providing-economic-support” model—and that there is a substitution effect between the two models. Regarding individual characteristics, younger individuals with higher education levels tend to use the providing-economic-support model instead of the living-with-the-elderly model. In terms of family features, the greater the number of underage children in a family is, the greater the probability of giving economic support and the lower the probability of living with elderly people, reflecting a family resource allocation model centered on “children”. This paper further explores the impact of urban female employment on family care model choice and finds that employed women are more inclined to use economic support instead of living with elderly people. The study suggested that the government should gradually improve the public resource support system, promote community service infrastructure development, and expand professional service supply capabilities.

Keywords

• Economic support model
• Living with the elderly model
• Care deficit
• Substitution effect