Under the situation of a low fertility rate, the slow increase and then decrease of the number of female labour in our country attracts people's concern increasingly. A decomposition of the varying indices of female labour by the four population censuses of our country finds that the negative effects of female participating ratio on the change in number of female labour is gradually strengthening, the degree of whose effects has exceeded the positive effects of the percentage of population and structural elements on it. And a further analysis of the number, structure and ages of work participants and participating ratio shows that the number of female work participants increases slower and their participating structure ages faster that those of male work participants. Also the age bracket of the decreased female participating ratio is broader that that of male participants. The prominent difference between female and male labour participants lies in the constant decrease of participating ratio of the 2529yearold young and middleaged female labourers, which is also the key reason for the faster decrease of female participating ratio than the male one.

female labour; fertility rate; labour participating ratio