Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: The Intergenerational Correlation of Employment
Author-Name: Gabriela Galassi
Author-Email: ggalassi@bankofcanada.ca
Author-Name: David Koll
Author-Email: koll@uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: Lukas Mayr
Author-Email: 

Classification-JEL: J21, J22, J62
Keywords: Intergenerational transmission, preferences for work, female employment

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.

Note: 
Length: 58
Creation-Date: 2021-07
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp309
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2021_309