Does family of origin make a difference in occupational outcomes?

Abstract

Disadvantages faced by parents adversely affect their children’s chances of success in the labour market. We study the influence of intergenerational transmission of parental socio-economic background on the educational attainment and occupational outcome of children, also considering gender differences. To tackle such a complex system of relationships across the outcome variables (both exogenous and endogenous), we adopt a path analysis model. In particular, we study the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage using the innovative and rich AD SILC database, which shows the evolution of occupational outcomes over eight years (measured by wages in 2011 and 2018). Our findings indicate that being raised in a single-parent family negatively affects men’s education and wages. Furthermore, high levels of education of at least one parent positively affect children; this effect is especially evident for daughters who grew up with fathers with low education levels.