Work, Leisure, and Family: From the Silent Generation to Millennials

George-Levi Gayle (), Prasanthi Ramakrishnan () and Mariana Odio-Zúñiga ()
Additional contact information
Prasanthi Ramakrishnan: https://economics.wustl.edu/people/prasanthi-ramakrishnan
Mariana Odio-Zúñiga: https://economics.wustl.edu/people/mariana-odio-zuniga

Review, 2021, vol. 103, issue 4, 385-424

Abstract: This article analyzes the changes in family structure, fertility behavior, and the division of labor within the household from the Silent generation (cohort born in 1940-49) to the Millennial generation (cohort born in 1980-89). Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article documents the main trends and life-cycle profiles for each generation. The main findings are that (i) the wage-age profile has been shifting down over generations, especially for Millennial men; (ii) the returns to a four-year college degree or higher for men have increased for all generations; (iii) Millennials enjoy a higher level of leisure than previous generations; (iv) the housework hours for women have clearly declined over generations, while the housework hours for Millennial men are higher than those of the previous generations of men; (iv) less-educated individuals have retreated from marriage, especially Millennials, while more-educated individuals have delayed marriage; (v) divorce rates have risen, with Millennials most likely to divorce, but the longer a couple is married, the likelihood of divorce has decreased over generations; and (vi) the Millennials' completed fertility rate is likely to be the lowest among all generations.

Keywords: work; leisure; family structure; fertility; division of labor; wages; education; housework; household labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I0 I2 J0 J1 J3 J7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publicat ... n-to-millennials.pdf Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedlrv:93191

DOI: 10.20955/r.103.385-424

Access Statistics for this article

Review is currently edited by Juan M. Sanchez

More articles in Review from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Scott St. Louis ().