Human capital depreciation during family-related career interruptions in male and female occupations

Dennis Görlich and Andries de Grip

No 1379, Kiel Working Papers from Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel)

Abstract: This study investigates the relation between human capital depreciation during family-related career interruptions and occupational choice of women in the (West) German labour market. In contrast to other studies that do not explicitly focus on family-related career interruptions, we find that short-term human capital depreciation during these career interruptions is significantly lower in female occupations than in male occupations. This holds for both high- and low-skilled occupations. Our findings support the self-selection hypothesis with respect to occupational sex segregation, i.e., women might deliberately choose female occupations because of lower short-term wage penalties for family-related career interruptions. Moreover, we find that particularly men employed in high-skilled male occupations face large short-run as well as long run wage penalties when they have a family related career break.

Keywords: Occupational segregation; GSOEP; Parental leave; Skills obsolescence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: Human capital depreciation during family-related career interruptions in male and female occupations (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1379

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