The Great Depression and the rise of female employment: A new hypothesis

B-Tier
Journal: Explorations in Economic History
Year: 2021
Volume: 80
Issue: C

Authors (2)

Bellou, Andriana (Université de Montréal) Cardia, Emanuela (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The life-cycle labor supply of women born at the turn of the 20th century diverged sharply from previous cohorts. Although they had similar participation rates in early adulthood, younger cohorts were significantly more likely to work at middle age. This paper documents a link between these changing patterns of female labor supply and the Great Depression. We find that the onset of the Great Depression led to an increase in young women's employment in 1930 via an added-worker effect. Cohorts induced into the workforce in the early 1930s had significantly higher employment rates through the 1940s and 1950s of up to 3 percentage points, suggesting a permanent impact of the Great Depression on women's lifecycle labor supply.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:exehis:v:80:y:2021:i:c:s0014498320300851
Journal Field
Economic History
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24