The Wife's Employment Change Before and After the Husband's Unemployment(in Japanese)

This paper examines the wife's added worker effect before and after husband's unemployment by using the retrospective employment history of the Keio Household Panel Study (KHPS). As a result of the analysis, following three points become apparent. First, wife's added worker effect is confirmed within 6 years of husband's unemployment. In addition, its effect that was measured by marginal effects has gradually decreased. Second, as a results of the analysis of the wife's selection for new forms of employment using retrospective panel data, the added worker effect due to the husband's unemployment is confirmed. Especially, non-regular employment and job search are sensitively stimulated by husband's unemployment. Married women, whose husband was unemployed, tend to begin job search and enter the labor market through non-regular employment that is relatively easy to get job. Third, after husband unemployed, husband's employment ratio has been not only declining, but also his income tends to decrease, even if he could find new job. This means that husband's permanent income has declined within several years of his unemployment. This will be the reason why wife's added worker effect was induced after several years of husband's unemployment. In addition, as the savings tends to decline after husband's unemployment, household is considered to use their savings to cope with the income reduction.