Who Bears the Burden of Precarious Work? Gendered Spillover Effects of Job Precarity on Couples’ Well-being in China

In recent decades, work and family life have become increasingly intertwined, with work spilling over into individual well-being and crossing over to partners. However, the association between job precarity and the subjective well-being of couples remains understudied, especially in China, where traditional gender norms coexist with high female labor force participation. Drawing on resource-based and gender-asymmetry perspectives, this study examines how job precarity spills over into the subjective well-being of married individuals and crosses over to their partners. Using nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies (2014–2022), it employs generalized structural equation modeling within the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model to analyze more than 18,000 couples. We conceptualize job precarity through two dimensions capturing visible and hidden forms of employment precarity: (1) manifest precarity (lack of contract or insurance) and (2) latent precarity (atypical working hours). Results reveal distinct patterns in both dimensions. Manifest precarity demonstrates a gender-neutral pattern; it is consistently associated with the well-being of both spouses, underscoring the material security provided by dual-earner households amid economic uncertainty. By contrast, latent precarity exhibits gendered asymmetries. Husbands’ overwork correlates with lower well-being for their wives but not themselves, while wives’ overwork links only to their own diminished well-being, leaving their spouses unaffected. This finding reflects women’s intensified dual burden of paid work and unpaid care, positioning latent precarity as a personal stressor and relational outcome of entrenched gender norms. This study offers valuable insights for understanding precarity’s consequences in China, with implications for other East Asian societies.