In Australia, parental joblessness is the single greatest cause of childhood poverty. LCC’s latest Working Paper by Matthew Curry, Irma Mooi-Reci, and Mark Wooden explores the impact of parental joblessness on young adults’ transition to the workforce.
Using a representative sample of young adults under the age of 25 that lived with their parents prior to entering the labor market in Australia and the U.S., the authors find that parental joblessness is associated with slower school-to-work transitions in both countries. However, university degree attainment mitigates much of this negative relationship in Australia, suggesting that parental joblessness is most harmful for Australians who leave school before earning a university degree. Thus, less-educated Australians with jobless parents are doubly disadvantaged as they transition from education into the labor market.
In the U.S., however, parental joblessness remains disadvantageous at all levels of education. These differences across countries may be due to contextual factors, such as differences in welfare generosity, education and labor market regulations.
You can read the full paper here.