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Personality traits and unemployment: Evidence from longitudinal data

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  • Viinikainen, Jutta
  • Kokko, Katja

Abstract

This study contributes to the literature on how personality is related to labour market success by providing evidence on the relationship between personality traits and unemployment. After accounting for reverse causality and measurement error, our results suggest that higher openness was associated with increased cumulative unemployment at the prime working age. It seems that this connection occurs because individuals with higher openness enter into unemployment spells more frequently – not because their unemployment spells would be particularly long.

Suggested Citation

  • Viinikainen, Jutta & Kokko, Katja, 2012. "Personality traits and unemployment: Evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1204-1222.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:33:y:2012:i:6:p:1204-1222
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2012.09.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:472-479 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Mareckova, Jana & Pohlmeier, Winfried, 2017. "Noncognitive Skills and Labor Market Outcomes: A Machine Learning Approach," Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168195, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Anger, Silke & Camehl, Georg & Peter, Frauke, 2017. "Involuntary job loss and changes in personality traits," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 71-91.
    4. Xu, Yilan & Beller, Andrea H. & Roberts, Brent W. & Brown, Jeffrey R., 2015. "Personality and young adult financial distress," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 90-100.
    5. Sciulli, Dario, 2016. "Adult employment probabilities of socially maladjusted children," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 9-22.
    6. Vellekoop, Nathanaël, 2016. "The impact of long-run macroeconomic experiences on personality," SAFE Working Paper Series 142, Research Center SAFE - Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe, Goethe University Frankfurt.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personality; Unemployment; Stability of the Big Five personality traits; Reverse causality; Errors-in-variables bias;

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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