Women’s Labour Force Exit: the Role of her Partner’s Socio-Economic Position

Abstract

Using the longitudinal data of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we studied the effect of both partners’ education and occupational status on womens likelihood to exit the labour market and to become a housewife. The event-history analyses show that women partnered with high status men were more likely to exit the labour force than women with lower status partners. Yet, stronger than the effects of the partner’s resources is the deterring effect of a woman’s own education and occupation. Hence, both partners’ resources work in different directions. We illustrate that considering the combined effect of both partners’ statuses as well as relative status differences is essential to assess the role of partner effects on female labour market exits.