Labour force status of married/cohabiting couples in Norway: Associations and explanations of (un)employment homogamy

The focus of this paper is on the working status of the spouse of an unemployed. Does it systematically differ from the working status of the spouse of an employed person? If so, are there any causal-or non-causal mechanisms behind such an interrelationship, and in that case what are they? So far, there has not been any study in Norway focusing on unemployment at the household level. This paper examines the interrelationship between unemployed of a married/cohabiting person and the working situation of the spouse by using a cross-sectional data set of the Gallup-type from 1995. The starting point is theoretical explanations for (un) employment homogamy, namely spo use selection and sh ared restrictions, mutua l influenc ing, the disc ourage d work er effect, additional worker effect (additional job seeker effect) and unobserved heterogeneity. The data demonstrate a substantial gap in lab our forc e participation rate (employment shortfall) of spouse between employed and unemployed males as w ell as fema les. Multiv ariate analy ses dem onstrate tha t even w hen con trolling for all relevant independent variables, the observed unemployment homo gamy found in bivariate analyses still remains. These findings confirm what has been found for other countries, namely that there is a social polarisation between dual-earner households and households were both spouses periodically are unemployed and/or outside labour force. Shortcom ings in the available da ta set make it difficult to identify the m ain mecha nisms behind unemployment homogamy. Yet, the additional jo b seeker e ffect seem s to be of sig nificance , and bein g the on ly factor, wh ich we w ith confidence could call a causal one. This means that the wife or husband of an unemployed register with the unem ploym ent office fo r financial re asons as a c onsequ ence of th e spouse being u nemp loyed. Introduction The focus of this article is the possible association between the labour force status of couples. Does the working status of the spouse of an employed person differ significantly from that of an unemployed person? If so, are there any causal or non-causal mechanisms behind such