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Early life circumstances and labor market outcomes over the life cycle

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel Flores

    (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya)

  • Pilar García-Gómez

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam; Tinbergen Institute and Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement (Netspar))

  • Adriaan Kalwij

    (Utrecht University School of Economics and Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement (Netspar))

Abstract

Some consequences of adverse events early in life for labor market outcomes may emerge early and others only later in adult life. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to investigate how early life circumstances—childhood health and socioeconomic status (SES)—are associated with various labor market outcomes over an individual’s entire life cycle. Our main new finding is that these associations change significantly over the life cycle. For instance, the association of childhood SES with lifetime earnings is shown to become stronger over the life cycle and to operate through both working years and annual earnings. We discuss how our findings can explain some of the mixed evidence on these associations in previous literature. Our results also shed light on the potential gains in the different labor market outcomes of public policies that invest in children’s health and parents’ SES.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Flores & Pilar García-Gómez & Adriaan Kalwij, 2020. "Early life circumstances and labor market outcomes over the life cycle," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(4), pages 449-468, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:18:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10888-020-09446-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-020-09446-7
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sung‐Hee Jeon & Jungwee Park & Dafna Kohen, 2023. "Childhood‐onset disabilities and lifetime earnings growth: A longitudinal analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1749-1766, August.
    3. Chris Clarke & Julien Bonnet & Manuel Flores & Olivier Thévenon, 2024. "What are the economic costs of childhood socio-economic disadvantage? Evidence from a pathway analysis for 27 European countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(2), pages 473-494, June.
    4. Ignacio Belloc & José Alberto Molina & Jorge Velilla, 2025. "Unexpected Inheritances and Household Labor Supply: Does the Identity of the Recipient Matter?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 71(1), February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early life circumstances; Labor market; Lifetime earnings; Life cycle; SHARE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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