In And Out Of Unemployment –Labour Market Transitions And The Role Of Testosterone

Peter Eibich; Ricky Kanabar; Alexander  Plum; Julien Schmied

doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101123

In And Out Of Unemployment –Labour Market Transitions And The Role Of Testosterone

Peter Eibich, Ricky Kanabar, Alexander Plum, Julien Schmied

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Abstract

Biological processes have provided new insights into diverging labour market trajectories. This paper uses population variation in testosterone levels to explain transition probabilities into and out of unemployment. We examine labour market transitions for 2004 initially employed and 111 initially unemployed British men from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (“Understanding Society”) between 2011 and 2013. We address the endogeneity of testosterone levels by using genetic variation as instrumental variables (Mendelian Randomization). We find that for both initially unemployed men as well as initially employed men, higher testosterone levels reduce the risk of unemployment. Based on previous studies and descriptive evidence, we argue that these effects are likely driven by differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills as well as job search behaviour of men with higher testosterone levels. Our findings suggest that latent biological processes can affect job search behaviour and labour market outcomes without necessarily relating to illness and disability.

Original language	English
Article number	101123
Number of pages	36
Journal	Economics & Human Biology
Volume	46
Early online date	15 Mar 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101123
Publication status	Published - 31 Aug 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Kanabar acknowledges generous support from the University of Bath International Research Funding Scheme (Developing Networks in Europe). Grant ref: VB-SP3ARK.We would like to thank Amanda Hughes and Meena Kumari for providing access to the polygenic score and Juliane Hennecke, Allan Mazur, Nicholas Papageorge, and Steven Pudney for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. These data are from Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, which is led by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no.: ES/M008592/1). The data were collected by NatCen and the genome wide scan data were analysed by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Information on how to access the data can be found on the Understanding Society website https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/Data governance was provided by the METADAC data access committee, funded by ESRC, Wellcome, and MRC. (2015?2018: Grant no. MR/N01104X/1 2018?2020: Grant Number ES/S008349/1). Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by NatCen Social Research and Kantar Public. The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service.

Funding Information:
Kanabar acknowledges generous support from the University of Bath International Research Funding Scheme (Developing Networks in Europe). Grant ref: VB-SP3ARK .

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Amanda Hughes and Meena Kumari for providing access to the polygenic score and Juliane Hennecke, Allan Mazur, Nicholas Papageorge, and Steven Pudney for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. These data are from Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, which is led by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no.: ES/M008592/1 ). The data were collected by NatCen and the genome wide scan data were analysed by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Information on how to access the data can be found on the Understanding Society website https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/Data governance was provided by the METADAC data access committee, funded by ESRC, Wellcome, and MRC. ( 2015–2018 : Grant no. MR/N01104X/1 2018–2020 : Grant Number ES/S008349/1 ). Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by NatCen Social Research and Kantar Public. The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service.

Keywords

Labour market dynamics
Testosterone
Unemployment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101123Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "In And Out Of Unemployment –Labour Market Transitions And The Role Of Testosterone",

abstract = "Biological processes have provided new insights into diverging labour market trajectories. This paper uses population variation in testosterone levels to explain transition probabilities into and out of unemployment. We examine labour market transitions for 2004 initially employed and 111 initially unemployed British men from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (“Understanding Society”) between 2011 and 2013. We address the endogeneity of testosterone levels by using genetic variation as instrumental variables (Mendelian Randomization). We find that for both initially unemployed men as well as initially employed men, higher testosterone levels reduce the risk of unemployment. Based on previous studies and descriptive evidence, we argue that these effects are likely driven by differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills as well as job search behaviour of men with higher testosterone levels. Our findings suggest that latent biological processes can affect job search behaviour and labour market outcomes without necessarily relating to illness and disability.",

keywords = "Labour market dynamics, Testosterone, Unemployment",

author = "Peter Eibich and Ricky Kanabar and Alexander Plum and Julien Schmied",

note = "Funding Information: Kanabar acknowledges generous support from the University of Bath International Research Funding Scheme (Developing Networks in Europe). Grant ref: VB-SP3ARK.We would like to thank Amanda Hughes and Meena Kumari for providing access to the polygenic score and Juliane Hennecke, Allan Mazur, Nicholas Papageorge, and Steven Pudney for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. These data are from Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, which is led by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no.: ES/M008592/1). The data were collected by NatCen and the genome wide scan data were analysed by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Information on how to access the data can be found on the Understanding Society website https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/Data governance was provided by the METADAC data access committee, funded by ESRC, Wellcome, and MRC. (2015?2018: Grant no. MR/N01104X/1 2018?2020: Grant Number ES/S008349/1). Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by NatCen Social Research and Kantar Public. The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service. Funding Information: Kanabar acknowledges generous support from the University of Bath International Research Funding Scheme (Developing Networks in Europe). Grant ref: VB-SP3ARK . Funding Information: We would like to thank Amanda Hughes and Meena Kumari for providing access to the polygenic score and Juliane Hennecke, Allan Mazur, Nicholas Papageorge, and Steven Pudney for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. These data are from Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, which is led by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no.: ES/M008592/1 ). The data were collected by NatCen and the genome wide scan data were analysed by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Information on how to access the data can be found on the Understanding Society website https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/Data governance was provided by the METADAC data access committee, funded by ESRC, Wellcome, and MRC. ( 2015–2018 : Grant no. MR/N01104X/1 2018–2020 : Grant Number ES/S008349/1 ). Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by NatCen Social Research and Kantar Public. The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service. ",

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In And Out Of Unemployment –Labour Market Transitions And The Role Of Testosterone

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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