Abstract
Using an extended panel from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this study explores the impact of marriage and children on the employed job search behavior of young workers. Estimation results from a bivariate probit model of employed job search that accounts for the selective nature of participation and employment demonstrate that both marriage and children significantly reduce the likelihood of on-the-job search for women but not for men. We find that married women with children have an employed search probability that is 18 percentage points below that of single women without children. Moreover, both the age and number of children present in the household are important determining factors for women in the decision to conduct on-the-job search. The inhibiting effect of children, however, is only pronounced for married women; single women with children are no less likely to search than single women without children.
Highlights
Past research has established notable behavioral differences between the sexes in many facets of labor supply including participation rates, quit rates, job mobility, and migration
Using an extended panel from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this study explores the impact of marriage and children on the employed job search behavior of young workers
Estimation results from a bivariate probit model of employed job search that accounts for the selective nature of participation and employment demonstrate that both marriage and children significantly reduce the likelihood of on-the-job search for women but not for men
Summary
Past research has established notable behavioral differences between the sexes in many facets of labor supply including participation rates, quit rates, job mobility, and migration. Parsons [7] and Keith and McWilliams [5] both provide evidence using the NLSY79 that women are less likely to search while employed, neither study examines the reasons for the difference. The information on employed job search gathered by NLSY in the early 1980s was discontinued in later surveys, the questions were reintroduced in the 1990s and we have included 1996 and 2000 data in our analysis. Does this yield a larger sample, but it enables us to analyze employed job search behavior over different stages in the life cycle. The inhibiting effect of children, is only pronounced for married women; single women with children are no less likely to search than single women without children
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