Labour Force Participation of Mature Age Men in Australia: The Role of Spousal Participation

28 Pages Posted: 7 Sep 2013

See all articles by Kostas G. Mavromaras

Kostas G. Mavromaras

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Rong Zhu

Flinders University

Abstract

In this paper we estimate the interdependence of labour force participation decisions made by Australian couples from 2001 to 2011. We focus on couples with a mature age husband, and estimate the interdependence of the participation decision of the couple. We find that the decision of a wife to work or not influences positively, and in a causal fashion, the decision of her husband to work or not. In our paper we use counterfactual analysis to estimate the impact of the increasing labour force participation of a wife on her husband's participation. We find that the increased labour force participation of married women observed between 2002 and 2011 has been responsible for about a 4 percentage points increase in the participation of their mature age husbands.

Keywords: labour force participation, spousal status, joint decision making, male employment trends, Australia

JEL Classification: J14, J21

Suggested Citation

Mavromaras, Kostas G. and Zhu, Rong, Labour Force Participation of Mature Age Men in Australia: The Role of Spousal Participation. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7581, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2322086 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2322086

Kostas G. Mavromaras (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research ( email )

Level 5, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Rong Zhu

Flinders University

GPO Box 2100
Adelaide S.A. 5001, SA 5063
Australia

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