Does Unemployment Run in Families? Some Findings from the General Household Survey

Abstract

Data from the 1980 and 1981 General Household Surveys are used to examine patterns of economic activity in the families of origin of economically active 16-19 year olds. It is shown that unemployed young people are much more likely than their working peers to have another member of their family out of work, both in the parental and sibling generations; there is also an association between youth unemployment and economic inactivity in the family. Logistic regression shows that family employment characteristics contribute very importantly to the prediction of individual youth unemployment when many other variables associated with unemployment are controlled. Reasons are considered for supposing a causal link between parental and youth unemployment. The findings have implications for how the burden of unemployment is shared in Britain and for the attitudes of some groups of young people towards work.