The responsiveness of wives’ labour supply to their husband’s job loss
Little is known about how unemployment shocks are absorbed within the household. This column uses longitudinal micro data for 28 European countries to investigate the effect of husbands’ job loss on wives’ labour supply. Overall, there is evidence that women increase their labour supply in response to their husband losing a job. However, the response varies over both the business cycle and across different welfare regimes.
Bredtmann, J., S. Otten and C. Rulff (2017), The responsiveness of wives’ labour supply to their husband’s job loss . VOX CEPR Policy Portal, 21.12.2017.