Ruhr Economic Papers

RWI, 10/2015, 25 S./p., 8 Euro, ISBN 978-3-86788-675-8 DOI: 10.4419/86788675

Abstract

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), continuous-time duration models are applied to examine whether paternal unemployment delays sons’ school-to-work transitions and thus leads to a spell of early career non-employment. The results show that substantial delaying effects of fathers’ unemployment exist and that they are heterogeneous among educational groups. Therefore, paternal unemployment implies long-run intergenerational costs by hindering sons’ smooth school-to-work transitions which can be expected to have long-lasting negative labor market consequences.