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Macroeconomic Conditions When Young Shape Job Preferences for Life

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  • Cassar, Lea
  • Cotofan, Maria
  • Dur, Robert
  • Meier, Stephan

Abstract

Preferences for monetary and non-monetary job attributes are important for understanding workers’ motivation and the organization of work. Little is known, however, about how those job preferences are formed. We study how macroeconomic conditions when young shape workers’ job preferences for the rest of their life. Using variation in income-per-capita across US regions and over time since the 1920s, we find that job preferences vary in systematic ways with experienced macroeconomic conditions during young adulthood. Recessions create cohorts of workers who give higher priority to income, whereas booms make cohorts care more about job meaning, for the rest of their life.

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  • Cassar, Lea & Cotofan, Maria & Dur, Robert & Meier, Stephan, 2021. "Macroeconomic Conditions When Young Shape Job Preferences for Life," CEPR Discussion Papers 15639, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15639
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    Cited by:

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    2. Cnossen, Femke & Nikolova, Milena, 2024. "Work Meaningfulness and Effort," IZA Discussion Papers 17182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Jarvis, Stephen, 2022. "How generational are generational trends in in vehicle ownership and use?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113646, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Cotofan, Maria & Dur, Robert & Meier, Stephan, 2024. "Does growing up in economic hard times increase compassion? The case of attitudes towards immigration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 245-262.
    5. Inés Berniell & Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni & Mariana Viollaz, 2022. "Lucky Women in Unlucky Cohorts: Gender Differences in the Effects of Initial Labor Market Conditions in Latin America," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0294, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
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    7. Bičáková, Alena & Cortes, Guido Matias & Mazza, Jacopo, 2023. "Make your own luck: The wage gains from starting college in a bad economy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Cotofan, Maria & Dur, Robert & Meier, Stephen, 2021. "Does growing up in a recession increase compassion? The case of attitudes towards immigration," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114427, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Andrea Fazio, 2024. "Protests, long-term preferences, and populism: Evidence from 1968 in Europe," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 920-944.
    10. Nibbering, Didier & Oosterveen, Matthijs & Silva, Pedro Luís, 2022. "Clustered Local Average Treatment Effects: Fields of Study and Academic Student Progress," IZA Discussion Papers 15159, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. McNeil, Andrew & Lee, Neil & Luca, Davide, 2022. "The long shadow of local decline: birthplace economic conditions, political attitudes, and long-term individual economic outcomes in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113681, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Andrea Fazio, 2024. "Protests, long-term preferences, and populism: Evidence from 1968 in Europe," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 920-944.
    13. Falco, Chiara & Corbi, Raphael, 2023. "Natural disasters and preferences for the environment: Evidence from the impressionable years," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    14. Maria Cotofan & Karlygash Kuralbayeva & Konstantinos Matakos, 2024. "Global warming cools voters down: How climate concerns affect policy preferences," CEP Discussion Papers dp1991, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis & Mount, Matthew P. & Guven, Cahit & Ulker, Aydogan & Graham, Carol, 2023. "A tale of two life stages: The imprinting effect of macroeconomic contractions on later life entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).
    16. Shimon Kogan & Florian H. Schneider & Roberto A. Weber, 2021. "Self-serving biases in beliefs about collective outcomes," ECON - Working Papers 379, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    17. Jan Bietenbeck & Petra Thiemann, 2023. "Revisiting the effect of growing up in a recession on attitudes towards redistribution," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(5), pages 786-794, August.
    18. Stefanie Huber, 2022. "SHE canÕt afford it and HE doesnÕt want it: The gender gap in the COVID-19 consumption response," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-029/II, Tinbergen Institute.
    19. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Barry Eichengreen & Anastasia Litina & Cem Özgüzel & Chan Yu, 2024. "Corruption Exposure, Political Trust, and Immigrants," Discussion Paper Series 2024_08, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Jun 2024.
    20. Berniell, Inés & Gasparini, Leonardo & Marchionni, Mariana & Viollaz, Mariana, 2023. "Lucky women in unlucky cohorts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    21. Hansen, Kerstin F. & Stutzer, Alois, 2021. "Experiencing Booms and Busts in the Welfare State and Support for Redistribution," IZA Discussion Papers 14327, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Zsoka Koczan & Alexander Plekhanov, 2024. "Scarred for Life? Recession Experiences, Beliefs and the State," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(4), pages 1074-1111, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Preferences for job attributes; Experience; Macroeconomic condition; Generational difference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • E7 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics

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