The Intergenerational Correlation of Employment

Gabriela Galassi (), David Koll () and Lukas Mayr

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: We document a substantial positive correlation of employment status between mothers and their offspring in the United States, linking data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults. Relative to a never employed mother, one who is employed throughout her working-age life increases the probability of her offspring's employment by 11 per- cent in each given year, after controlling for ability, education, fertility, and wealth. The intergenerational transmission of maternal employment is stronger to daughters than to sons, and it is higher for low-educated and low-income mothers. Investigat- ing potential mechanisms, we provide suggestive evidence for a role-model channel, through which labor force participation is transmitted. Offspring, especially daugh- ters, seem to emulate the example of their mother when they observe her working. By contrast, we are able to rule out several alternative candidate explanations such as network effects, occupation-specific human capital and local conditions of the labor market.

Keywords: Intergenerational transmission; preferences for work; female employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J22 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58
Date: 2021-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-isf and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2021_309

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