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The Effect of Maternal Job Loss on School Dropout and Track Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Dániel Horn

    (Corvinus University of Budapest; ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies)

  • Rita Pető

    (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies)

Abstract

Maternal job loss may deepen educational inequality by disrupting children’s schooling at critical transition points. Using linked Hungarian administrative and educational data, we compare children whose mothers experience sustained non-employment after grade 6 with those whose mothers experience it only after grade 10. Maternal job loss increases school dropout by 4.3 percentage points, relative to a mean of 6.7 percent. Its average effect on maturity-track enrollment is largely associated with increased dropout rather than track reallocation among enrolled students. The larger adverse effects observed in the top baseline maternal earnings tertile provide suggestive support for a financial mechanism, while the smaller maturity-track effects among children of more-educated mothers are consistent with a compensatory role for parental resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Dániel Horn & Rita Pető, 2026. "The Effect of Maternal Job Loss on School Dropout and Track Choice," KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS 2610, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:2610
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

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