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Older Couples' Labour Market Reactions to Family Disruptions

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Author Info
David Haardt

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Abstract

This paper analyses how spouses in older couples react to `shocks' or `surprises' in their partner's labour income using data from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991-2004. Wives' labour supply proves to be much more sensitive to shocks than husbands'. After a divorce or separation, wives reduce their labour supply while the effect on husbands' labour supply is positive or not statistically significant. If a wife becomes unemployed, it does not affect her husband's labour supply while wives whose husband becomes unemployed reduce their labour supply, too. A decline in husband's health causes the wife to reduce her working hours while husbands tend to increase their labour supply when facing a decline in wife's health. Partner's death does not have statistically significant labour supply effects. Negative income shocks due to other reasons (such as choice) tend to reduce partner's labour supply and vice versa, but only slightly.

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File URL: http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~sedap/p/sedap198.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by McMaster University in its series Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers with number 198.

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Length: 46 pages
Date of creation: May 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mcm:sedapp:198

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Related research
Keywords: labour supply; income shocks; older couples; BHPS;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Arellano, Manuel & Bond, Stephen, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 58(2), pages 277-97, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2004. "Social security, pensions and retirement behaviour within the family," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 723-737. [Downloadable!]
  3. Boheim, Rene & Ermisch, John, 2001. " Partnership Dissolution in the UK--The Role of Economic Circumstances," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 197-208, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. David Haardt, 2007. "Transitions Out Of and Back To Employment among Older Men and Women in the UK," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 197, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
  5. Blau, David M, 1998. "Labor Force Dynamics of Older Married Couples," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 595-629, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Paul Bingley & Ian Walker, 1996. "Household Unemployment and the Labour Supply of Married Women," Keele Department of Economics Discussion Papers (1995-2001) 96/20, Department of Economics, Keele University.
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  7. Haurin, Donald R, 1989. "Women's Labor Market Reactions to Family Disruptions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 54-61, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. repec:cep:sticas:019 is not listed on IDEAS
  9. Weiss, Yoram & Willis, Robert J, 1997. "Match Quality, New Information, and Marital Dissolution," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages S293-329, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-24.

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