The Effect of China’s Health Insurance on the Labor Supply of Middle-aged and Elderly Farmers

Abstract

Social security primarily improves residents’ welfare and ensures labor market sustainability. This study presents a new view of the association between health insurance and labor supply by using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The results reveal that the health insurance system has a remarkable effect on labor supply. The health insurance coverage tends to encourage middle-aged and elderly farmers to increase their farm labor participation rate and working time, especially for their household agricultural labor participation rate and working time. However, it also reduces the non-farm labor participation rate and working time. Different types of health insurance have diverse effects on labor supply. The new cooperative medical insurance has a stronger pull-back effect. It encourages the middle-aged and elderly farmers to leave the urban non-farm sector and transfer to rural areas to engage in their household agricultural work. The urban employee medical insurance encourages farmers to reduce self-employed labor supply and increase employed work. The supplemental health insurance tends to reduce the labor supply of farm employed and non-farm labor supply, but improve the farm labor supply. Furthermore, urban resident medical insurance and government medical insurance encourage farmers to quit directly from the labor market. In conclusion, the health insurance system is facilitating change in the labor market. Policy-makers should pay full attention to such impacts while improving the health insurance system’s design and operation in China.

The relationship between anthropometric indicators and health-related quality of life in a community-based adult population: A cross-sectional study in Southern China

“…The reason for this difference may be due to the time of the survey and the different distribution areas of the sample. First, compared with 2013, the level of medical care ( 31 ), social welfare ( 32 ), and people's living standards have significantly improved. And some studies have shown that social welfare engagement can significantly improve people's quality of life ( 33 ), so the quality of life of the participants in this study will be better than the survey population in 2013.…”

The Impact of Air Quality on Effective Labor Supply: Based on the Survey Data of Zhejiang Province in China

“…An increase in air pollution has a positive impact on human health insurance expenditures, and air pollution affects medical and health expenditures by affecting residents' health mechanisms [32]. In addition, medical insurance has a significant impact on labor supply and plays an important role in the long-term sustainable supply of labor [13]. Chen and Chen (2021) pointed out that the residents' protective behaviors illustrate the existence of inequality in society [14].…”

“…Workers either work harder to earn money or simply leave the polluted areas [9][10][11][12]. In order to avoid demand, people will flow from high pollution areas to places with good air quality under the similar conditions [13][14][15]. The subjective well-being of residents will also be affected by air quality, which may affect the willingness and attitude of residents to work [16][17][18][19].…”

How does urban-rural integrated medical insurance affect labour supply of migrant workers

“…Similarly, Garthwaite and Gross (2014) studied the impact of participating in public health insurance on labour supply through the cancellation of public health insurance in the United States, nding that the labour supply of residents increased signi cantly after losing health insurance. Liu L et al (2020) con rmed that health insurance reduced the participation rate and working hours of the non-agricultural labour force. In addition, Bradley and Owsley (2022) pointed out that workers who rely on employment to obtain medical insurance are more likely to withdraw from the labour market after illness.…”