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How the Great Recession Affected the Labour Market Prospects of Young Adults of Different Social Origins in Europe

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Abstract

The Matthew effect in sociology postulates a process of cumulative (dis)advantage between subgroups of different social origins. To what extent and in which cases this process takes place is unclear. This article analyzes whether there was a Matthew effect after the Great Recession. It does so measuring the evolution of the gap in earnings and unemployment between young men and women from different social origins. Based on a difference-in-differences design with the EU-SILC data, this article analyzes the social-origin gap for the six most populous EU countries, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. Results show an increase in the social-origin gap in earnings only for young men (25-34) in the UK and possibly Italy, but not in the rest of the countries. There is no increase in the social-origin gap in terms of unemployment rates. These findings seem to refute the Matthew Effect hypothesis.

Year of Publication
2021
Journal
LIVES Working Papers
Volume
090
Number of Pages
28
ISSN Number
2296-1658
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2021.90
DOI
10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2021.90
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