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Job Turnover, Wage Rates, and Marital Stability: How Are They Related?

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  • Ahituv, Avner

    (University of Haifa)

  • Lerman, Robert I.

    (Urban Institute)

Abstract

This study examines the interplay between job stability, wage rates, and marital instability. We use a Dynamic Selection Control model in which young men make sequential choices about work and family. Our empirical estimates derived from the model account for self-selection, simultaneity and unobserved heterogeneity. The results capture how job stability affects earnings, how both affect marital status, and how marital status affects earnings and job stability. The study reveals robust evidence that job instability lowers wages and the likelihood of getting and remaining married. At the same time, marriage raises wages and job stability. To project the sequential effects linking job stability, marital status, and earnings, we simulate the impacts of shocks that raise preferences for marriage and that increase education. Feedback effects cause the simulated wage gains from marriage to cumulate over time, indicating that long-run marriage wage premiums exceed conventional short-run estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahituv, Avner & Lerman, Robert I., 2005. "Job Turnover, Wage Rates, and Marital Stability: How Are They Related?," IZA Discussion Papers 1470, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1470
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    Cited by:

    1. Briggs Depew & Joseph Price, 2018. "Marriage and the economic status of women with children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1049-1061, December.
    2. Claire M. Kamp Dush & Kate S. Adkins, 2009. "The Mental Health of Mothers and Fathers Before and After Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution," Working Papers 1134, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    3. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2019. "Live together: does culture matter?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 671-713, June.
    4. Lia Pacelli & Silvia Pasqua & Claudia Villosio, 2007. "What Does the Stork Bring to Women’s Working Career?," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 58, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    5. Yuriy Pylypchuk & James B. Kirby, 2017. "The role of marriage in explaining racial and ethnic disparities in access to health care for men in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 807-832, September.
    6. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2014. "Does the European country-specific context alter the fatherhood premium?," Working Papers 74, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    7. Lundberg, Shelly, 2005. "Men and islands: Dealing with the family in empirical labor economics," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 591-612, August.
    8. Drahomíra Zajíčková & Miroslav Zajíček, 2021. "Otcovský bonus v České republice, jeho vývoj a zdroje [Fatherhood Premium in the Czech Republic - Its Evolution and Sources]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2021(5), pages 529-554.
    9. Iris Kesternich & Bettina Siflinger & James P. Smith & Franziska Valder, 2022. "Relationship Stability: Evidence from Labor and Marriage Markets," CEBI working paper series 22-20, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    10. Michael Svarer, 2011. "Crime and partnerships," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 307-325, September.
    11. Laura Turner & Aloysius Siow & Gueorgui Kambourov, 2014. "Relationship Skills in the Labor and Marriage Markets," 2014 Meeting Papers 155, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. David Pelletier & Simona Bignami-Van Assche & Anaïs Simard-Gendron, 2020. "Measuring Life Course Complexity with Dynamic Sequence Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 1127-1151, December.
    13. repec:pri:crcwel:wp09-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Avner Ahituv & Robert Lerman, 2007. "How do marital status, work effort, and wage rates interact?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(3), pages 623-647, August.
    15. Brian Goesling & Hande Inanc & Angela Rachidi, "undated". "Success Sequence: A Synthesis of the Literature," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 726444f0055c41fca02d9cf39, Mathematica Policy Research.
    16. Marcén, Miriam & Morales, Marina, 2017. "Remain single or live together: Does culture matter?," MPRA Paper 77623, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. David Boto‐García & Federico Perali, 2024. "The association between marital locus of control and break‐up intentions," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 35-57, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage rates; marriage and marital dissolution; job turnover; panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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