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Labour Force Participation and Household Debt

Author

Listed:
  • Rochelle Belkar

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

  • Lynne Cockerell

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

  • Rebecca Edwards

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Abstract

In the past decade or so there has been a substantial rise in the indebtedness and debt-servicing obligations of Australian households. This has been accompanied by a trend increase in labour force participation (LFP) for women and more recently for men. Microeconomic data show a clear positive correlation between indebtedness and LFP. This paper models the LFP decision of prime-age Australian women and men accounting for the influence of debt and assets along with a range of other variables found to be important in the literature. The potential two-way causation between debt and labour supply is also addressed. Data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey are used as it contains recent and detailed data on household wealth along with extensive labour market and demographic data. A cross-section model of LFP is estimated using the detailed measures of household debts and assets available in Wave 2 of the survey. In addition, a panel model, using only measures of owner-occupied housing debt and assets, is estimated using all five currently available waves. Evidence is presented to suggest that LFP is determined by several factors, including family structure, education, health and indebtedness. In general, most of the effect of indebtedness on an individual’s probability of participation in the labour force is captured through the household debt-servicing ratio, although the level of owner-occupied mortgage debt appears important for men. Also, the panel results suggest that accounting for unobserved heterogeneity across individuals is important when examining the influence of debt on labour supply.

Suggested Citation

  • Rochelle Belkar & Lynne Cockerell & Rebecca Edwards, 2007. "Labour Force Participation and Household Debt," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2007-05, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2007-05
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Sarantis Lolos & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2011. "Housing credit and female labour supply: assessing the evidence from Greece," Working Papers 141, Bank of Greece.
    3. Jeremy Lawson & Crystal Ossolinski, 2010. "Employment Composition: A Study of Australian Employment Growth, 2002–2006," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2010-04, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    4. Butrica, Barbara A. & Karamcheva, Nadia S, 2020. "Is Rising Household Debt Affecting Retirement Decisions?," IZA Discussion Papers 13182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jeff Borland, 2011. "The Australian Labour Market in the 2000s: The Quiet Decade," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Hugo Gerard & Jonathan Kearns (ed.),The Australian Economy in the 2000s, Reserve Bank of Australia.
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    7. Joanna Abhayaratna & Les Andrews & Hudan Nuch & Troy Podbury, 2008. "Part Time Employment: the Australian Experience," Staff Working Papers 0805, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    8. Hendrik Schmitz & Ansgar Wübker, 2011. "What determines influenza vaccination take‐up of elderly Europeans?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(11), pages 1281-1297, November.
    9. Ellis Connolly & Kathryn Davis & Gareth Spence, 2011. "Trends in Labour Supply," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 1-8, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour force participation; household debt; credit constraints; HILDA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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