Time Price of Fertility: The Association Between Fertility Intention and Working Hours in China

Fertility intention is a critical forward-looking decision that profoundly shapes individuals’ time allocation. This study utilized panel data from the China Family Panel Studies 2020 and 2022 to examine the relationship between fertility intention and working hours in China and the moderating roles of gender, parental experience, and household income. The results estimated by the two-way fixed-effects model indicate that fertility intention is significantly associated with an increase in working hours, and fertility intention can prolong individuals’ working hours. This effect is particularly pronounced for men and for individuals who already have children, and weakens as household income rises. Robustness checks show that the main results are consistent across various models. Overall, this study demonstrates that increased working hours may act as a “time price” for fulfilling fertility intentions and highlights the need for policies that alleviate economic pressures on prospective parents to improve work-family balance in emerging economies.