Xiaobo He ^a, Fang Xiao ^b

Author information

a School of Business, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620, China; The Centre for Global Food and Resources, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

b School of Business, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620, China

E-mail: xiaobo.he@adelaide.edu.au (Xiaobo He)

Abstract

This paper addresses the reactions of domestic helpers to the Wuhan (Hubei Province) lockdown that began on January 23, 2020. We use a novel dataset containing the information of over 40,000 Chinese domestic helpers registered on a leading professional website from November 2019 to June 2020. The results indicate a declining pattern of short-term labor supply of domestic helpers across 11 major Chinese cities, which shows an increase in the expected monthly wage of domestic helpers in these cities. More importantly, using a difference-in-difference (DID) model, this paper provides some evidence on the existence of labor market discrimination against domestic helpers born in Hubei Province due to employers’ fear of infection.

Keywords

2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), pandemic, domestic helpers, urban, China, labor supply, expected wage, labor market, discrimination

Cite this article

Xiaobo He, Fang Xiao. Unintended Consequences of Lockdowns: Evidence from Domestic Helpers in Urban China. Front. Econ. China, 2020, 15(4): 521‒540 https://doi.org/10.3868/s060-011-020-0022-0