Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20851 
Year of Publication: 
1998
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This study investigates the labor force behavior of older married couples in Germany. Monthly observations from the first eleven waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) are used to describe and analyze the relationship between the labor force behavior of husbands and wives. The empirical model is a discrete time, competing risks hazard model of transitions among labor force states defined by the employment status of both spouses. The analysis indicates that the probability of one spouse exiting employment is much larger if the other spouse is not employed than if the other spouse is employed. Similarly, one member of a couple is much more likely to enter employment if the spouse is employed than if the spouse is not employed. Observed covariates including wages and retirement benefits help to explain these patterns, but unobserved preferences for shared leisure also appear to play an important role.
Subjects: 
labor force transition
retirement
household decision-making
competing risks hazard model
JEL: 
J26
H55
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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