中国家政行业老年照料工作的低回报率：禀赋差异还是职业歧视？

《财经研究》 2022年48卷第8期 页码：94 - 108  online：2022年8月3日

中国家政行业老年照料工作的低回报率：禀赋差异还是职业歧视？

Lower Pay of Eldercare Workers in China’s Domestic Industry: Endowment Difference or Occupational Discrimination?

作者（中）：杨博文1

作者（英）：Yang Bowen1

作者单位：1.南京大学 社会学院，江苏 南京 210023

摘要： 随着老龄化进程加速，中国家庭照料负担持续加重，并不断向市场转移。老年人的社会化照料需求达到历史峰值，照料经济的持续健康发展显得愈加重要。然而，调查数据显示，养老护理员的工资水平明显低于其他照料工作者，严重制约了劳动力进入，照料赤字问题突出。过往研究大都关注照料型与非照料型工作者之间的工资差异，忽略了照料市场的内部工资分化。文章聚焦于照料经济内部，使用2019年中国四个城市家政工人调查数据，对老年照料工作的低回报率进行了分析。结果发现：（1）与其他家政工相比，养老护理员的工资分布较为集中，且上升空间有限，存在明显的“天花板效应”。（2）排除职业自选择偏误后，养老护理员与家务员的工资差异不显著；与育儿嫂存在10%—15%的工资差异，其中职业歧视解释了月工资差异的76%和小时工资差异的40%。（3）家政培训只对育儿嫂和家务员具有积极的收入效应，而对养老护理员无显著影响，这验证了老年照料工作存在基于职业隔离的技能贬值。文章为解决老年照料的劳动力赤字，为照料市场实现“提质扩容”提供了实践方向。根据研究结论，文章建议应提高养老护理员的技能认可和职业地位，发展科学高效的现代化照料模式。

关键词：养老护理员；低回报率；自选择偏误；职业歧视；技能贬值

Summary:As the aging process accelerates, the burden of family care in China continues to increase and transfer to the market. The demand for socialized eldercare has reached a historical peak, and the sustainable and healthy development of the care economy is becoming more and more important. However, the survey data show that eldercare workers are paid significantly less than other care workers. The lower pay of eldercare has greatly restricted the development of eldercare services and the entry of labor force, and the care deficit problem is prominent. Most previous studies focus on wage differentials between care and non-care workers, ignoring wage differentials within the care market. Focusing on the care economy, and using data from the 2019 Domestic Workers Survey in Four Chinese Cities, this paper compares the relative remuneration of eldercare with that of childcare and housekeeping workers, and discusses the reasons for the lower pay in eldercare. The results show that: (1) Compared with others, the income distribution of eldercare is more concentrated, and there is an obvious “ceiling effect”. (2) Domestic workers will choose between “high-intensity household work with short working hours” and “low-intensity eldercare work with long working hours” according to their own endowments. There is no significant difference between the salary of eldercare and housekeeping after eliminating the occupational self-selection bias. (3) There is a 10% to 15% wage difference between eldercare and childcare, and occupational discrimination explains 76% of the monthly wage difference and 40% of the hourly wage difference. (4) Training only has a positive income effect on childcare and housekeeping, but has no significant impact on eldercare, indicating the devaluation of care skills. The marginal contributions of this paper are as follows: First, using the first-hand questionnaire data, it investigates the lower pay of eldercare workers in the domestic industry compared with childcare and housekeeping workers, and confirms the occupational discrimination of eldercare work compared with childcare work. Second, from the theoretical perspectives of neoclassical economics, feminism and occupational segregation, it systematically reviews the causes of the lower pay in care work compared with non-care work, and discusses its applicability to the eldercare work in China. Third, training has always been regarded as an important way to “improve the quality and expand the capacity” of the domestic service industry, but the results show that the improvement of skills does not bring significant salary returns to eldercare workers. Therefore, it is suggested to improve the skill recognition and professional status of eldercare, and develop a scientific and efficient modern care model. Under the current social situation of “aging and fewer children” in China’s population structure, solving the problem of eldercare deficit has become a key to ensuring people’s livelihood. The conclusion of this paper provides a practical direction for addressing the labor deficit of eldercare.

Key words:  eldercare workers; lower pay; self-selection bias; occupational discrimination; devaluation of skill

DOI：10.16538/j.cnki.jfe.20220614.302

收稿日期：2022-02-06

基金项目：国家社会科学基金重点项目（18ASH007）；江苏省社科联重大应用研究课题（21WTA-018）

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