"Subsidize 1000 yuan every month. Are you willing to have two/three children?" In January this year, in order to further optimize the birth support policy, the Zhejiang Provincial Health and Health Commission conducted a survey on the parenting cost of infants under 3 years old among some people of childbearing age. A question about parenting subsidies in the questionnaire attracted widespread attention.
In August last year, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province was declared as a local registered family with two or three children, and 500 yuan allowance was paid to each child every month until the child was 3 years old. The reporter found out that since the second half of last year, Hunan, Jilin, Anhui and other provinces have issued documents, clearly proposing the establishment of a childcare subsidy system.
How to pay the childcare allowance? What is the effect on encouraging fertility? What support do people of childbearing age need?
Solve some "milk powder money"
"Although 500 yuan is not much every month, it can solve some problems ‘ Milk powder money ’ 。” Xu Junfeng, deputy mayor of Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, said.
Many provinces in China have introduced the child-rearing subsidy system to provide supporting support for the "three-child policy". Last November, the "14th Five-Year Plan for Public Services in Guangdong Province" proposed to explore the provision of inclusive economic subsidies for children. In January this year, Beijing issued the "Implementation Plan on Optimizing the Birth Policy and Promoting the Long-term Balanced Development of the Population", which clearly and gradually established and improved the family parenting subsidy system.
Zhejiang Province stipulates that the county (city, district) people’s government may, according to local conditions, give child-rearing allowance and child-care expenses subsidies to infant families under the age of 3. It is clear in Heilongjiang Province that the people’s governments at the municipal and county levels should establish a child-rearing subsidy system for families who have given birth to a second or more children according to law, and appropriately tilt to border areas and old revolutionary areas. Jilin Province advocates the establishment of a county-level childcare subsidy system, and the provincial finance will give appropriate subsidies according to the implementation of local systems.
Compared with the principle provisions at the provincial level, some cities and counties have planned the implementation details. For families with two or three children, Panzhihua will set the subsidy amount as 500 yuan per child per month. Linze County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, grants subsidies on an annual basis, with families with two children paying 5,000 yuan a year and families with three children paying 10,000 yuan a year until their children are 3 years old.
Qiao Lin, a Beijing Baoma who has just given birth to two children, hopes that the policy will come to an early date. "The second child has just reached the full moon, and milk powder, complementary food and diapers will cost money." She said that from the extension of maternity leave to the issuance of childcare subsidies, we can see the efforts made by the state to reduce the burden of parenting, and look forward to more supporting measures.
What is the incentive effect of childcare subsidy?
To what extent can the child-rearing subsidy, which is the icing on the cake for families with many children, enhance the willingness to have children? The reporter interviewed several families of childbearing age randomly, and some said that "although the subsidy is good, it will not decide to have children." A white-collar worker admits that parenting is not just an economic account.
"The original intention of the childcare subsidy policy is to increase the fertility rate by reducing the direct cost of childbirth, which will stimulate the areas with low per capita income to a certain extent." Wang Tianyu, an associate professor in the Department of Social Security, School of Labor and Personnel, Renmin University of China, analyzed that the reproductive decision-making of individual families is very complicated, and the reproductive cost is only one of the influencing factors. According to the survey, the decision from zero child to one child has little to do with the cost of childbirth, and whether to have two children is mainly determined by the preference of childbirth.
Li Yue, an associate researcher at China Population and Development Research Center, said that the policy of child-care subsidy may improve the short-term fertility rate, not the lifelong fertility level. "Those one-child families who plan to have two children may be encouraged by the policy to advance their childbearing behavior, but they will not decide to have three children. Parenting subsidies have undoubtedly improved family welfare, but the separate efforts of this policy have limited effect on boosting fertility. "
The affordability of local finance should also be taken into account. Wang Tianyu calculated that the population born in 2021 was 10.62 million, including 4.6 million children. If only two-child families are subsidized, the annual investment will be as high as 80 billion yuan, based on last year’s birth scale, assuming that each child will be given a monthly subsidy of 500 yuan to the age of three.
In Wang Tianyu’s view, the greatest significance of the policy is not to stimulate fertility in the short term, but to build a culture of socialization of fertility costs and caring for families with many children. The role of culture in fertility decision-making will take some time to show.
Reducing the burden of childbirth requires more efforts.
"There is a need for a perfect infant care service system behind the childcare subsidy system, and a fertility-friendly society calls for policy synergy." Li Yue said.
Li Yue introduced that at present, the measures to encourage fertility in various countries can be divided into three categories. First, economic support, including various subsidies and tax relief policies; Second, service support, including the development of nursery services, home help, after-school care, etc. The third is time support, including maternity leave, parental leave, paternity leave and other holiday systems.
For the further implementation of the child-care subsidy system, Wang Tianyu suggested not to "flood irrigation": "Not long ago, the State Council issued the Notice on Setting up a Special Additional Deduction for Personal Income Tax for Infant Care under 3 years old. From the perspective of maintaining social equity and saving financial funds, child-care subsidies may also pay attention to those families and individuals whose income is below the tax threshold."
Housing tilt policy is also a powerful measure of economic support. It is reported that Beijing, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places have proposed that when renting public rental housing, families who meet the local housing security conditions and have minor children can be given appropriate care in terms of apartment selection according to the number of minor children.
According to the data released by National Health Commission, more than one-third of families have the demand for nursery services, but the enrollment rate of infants in various nursery institutions in China is only about 5.5%.
"Inclusive care institutions are important fertility support forces, but they are developing slowly at present." Li Yue said.
According to the current policy, for each new nursery, inclusive nursery institutions can enjoy a subsidy of 10,000 yuan. Once it becomes an inclusive nursery institution, it is necessary to enroll students according to the guidance price of the local government.
Li Yue said that in the case of high operating costs, the income and expenditure of nursery institutions are unbalanced and lack the motivation to apply. One of the future directions is to provide monthly operating subsidies according to the number of students enrolled, and appropriately reduce the rent and taxes, so as to really lower the price of nursery services.
In the revision of family planning regulations in various places, extending maternity leave and adding parental leave are a highlight. Li Yue believes that while adjusting the holiday system, it is also necessary to clarify how to share the costs, explore the cost-sharing mechanism of the state, enterprises and families, reduce employment discrimination, and relieve the worries of women of childbearing age.
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