Youth Unemployment: Does the Family Matter?

Abstract

Conventional models of the incidence of unemployment in the youth labour market are augmented by variables describing the unemployment status of family mem bers. These variables are typically highly significant, and associated with unemploy ment effects greater in magnitude than those associated with personal characteristics such as educational attainment. Application of a within-family estimator reinforces the conclusion that family and regional circumstances are more important in determining unemployment outcomes than personal characteristics. This suggests that regional employment initiatives might be a more appropriate focus for policy than policies such as job training aimed simply at improving the employability of individuals.

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