Electronics factory worker Mo Guilan said she was doing an entry-level job in southern China’s Dongguan city, but her employer gave her all the usual maternity benefits.

Once she told her bosses she was pregnant, they lightened her job load to make sure she was not overworked and had a basic three-month maternity leave.

Still, Mo is not keen to have more children.

“I won’t consider a second child for health and financial reasons,” she said.

Chinese officials have been pushing for a baby bump after decades of birth restriction, and as more women become educated and delay childbirth. While the U.S. administration is fielding suggestions on boosting its near record low birth rate, officials in China have been offering cash subsidies for years and extended maternity leave from three months to 158 days or more.

China had a bit of a baby bump in 2024, up to 9.5 million newborns, which is an increase of 520,000 from the previous year. However, it was not enough to prevent the overall population declining for a third year in a row last year. Fewer people means fewer taxpayers to support the growing number of pensioners.

China’s demographic downturn is exacerbated by the decades-long one-child policy. Since 2021, the government has allowed families to have up to three children. Chinese policymakers said they’re prioritizing boosting the birth rate this year. They’ve improved child care, extended maternity leave from three months to 158 days or more and given cash subsidies.

Hohhot in Inner Mongolia region is perhaps the most generous. The city offers subsidies ranging from 10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan ($1,400 to $14,000) spread out over several years for the first, second and third child. It has added free health screenings for newborns and milk for postpartum moms.

However, even with one child, Mo’s family has already taken a financial hit.

“There was nobody to help me take care of the baby after maternity leave, so I had to quit my factory job,” she said.

A lot of women worry about being able to keep their jobs after giving birth.

When human resources executive Iring Yang gave birth back in 2011, she was entitled to a three-month maternity leave, but she was nervous about taking it.

“Once I took that long maternity leave, my work was given to another person,” Yang said. “I worried that I could be replaced, and whether I could keep pace with the company’s development.”

To make sure she didn’t miss out on too much, Yang went to the office during her maternity leave.

Now she is in a senior HR role and a proud mom of a teenager.

“After having one child, I didn’t want more. It’s like, mission accomplished,” Yang said.

Since employers bear the cost of benefits like maternity leave, women can be discriminated against in the hiring process.

“At interviews, employers would ask my age, if I’m married yet, and if I have any children,” mom-of-one Peng Lu, said.

China’s government officially bans such lines of questioning, but it still happens.

Luckily, Peng landed a job in the public sector, where women’s rights are better protected.

But she quit the job in neighboring Guangzhou city after having her son and moved back to Dongguan to be closer to her family and so she wouldn’t have to pay for expensive child care.

Now, Peng is planning a second child.

A Dongguan neighborhood, not Peng’s area, is offering residents 20,000 yuan ($2,700) if they have a second child and 50,000 yuan ($6,900) for a third kid.

That does not tempt Peng.

Nor ex-factory worker Mo.

“I won’t give birth to a child just for a few thousand dollars. It costs way more than that to raise a kid,” she said.

Additional research by Charles Zhang