More or less unmarried. The impact of legal settings of cohabitation on labor market outcomes

Marion Goussé and Marion Leturcq

No 2018-08, Working Papers from French Institute for Demographic Studies

Abstract: We show how the legal settings of unmarried cohabitation affect partners' labor market outcomes. In Canada, cohabiting couples are automatically entitled to certain rights after a few years of cohabitation. In some provinces, ex-cohabiting partners can claim for alimony upon separation, in others they can claim for an equal split of all the assets acquired during the relationship. As legal settings of unmarried cohabitation differ across time, provinces and duration of the relationship, it provides a unique framework to analyze how different levels of commitment affect couples' decision regarding labor market supply. Using cross-provinces variation in the legal settings and minimum duration for eligibility, we show that unmarried cohabiting men increase their labor force supply when they become eligible to a more committed cohabitation regime, whereas women decrease theirs. Higher levels of commitment induce larger effects on labor market outcomes.

Keywords: Unmarried cohabitation; labor supply; alimony rights; common law marriage; Canada; labor supply; alimony rights; common law marriage; Canada; PENSION ALIMENTAIRE / ALIMONY; COHABITATION HORS MARIAGE / NONMARITAL COHABITATION; POPULATION ACTIVE / LABOUR FORCE; CANADA / CANADA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 1-41
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: More or less unmarried. The impact of legal settings of cohabitation on labour market outcomes (2022)
Working Paper: More or Less Unmarried. The Impact of Legal Settings of Cohabitation on Labour Market Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: More or Less Unmarried. The Impact of Legal Settings of Cohabitation on Labour Market Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: More or less unmarried. The impact of legal settings of cohabitation on labour market outcomes (2018)
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