Unemployment, marital breakdown and gender in Spain

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between job loss and marital breakdown (separation or divorce) during the last economic crisis using Spanish panel data. In contrast with other papers that have examined this issue in other countries, our results revealed that the working status of women plays a role in marital break-up decisions in Spain. The results suggested that the probability of separation or divorce decreases when women are not working. The same was observed when accounting for a change in the working status of women from employed to unemployed and from employed to inactive. For men, only the change from employed to inactive appears to be negatively related to the probability of marital breakdown.