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How Early Career Choices Adjust to Economic Crises

Author

Listed:
  • Julien Grenet

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Hans Grönqvist

    (Linnaeus University, IFN - Research Insitute of Industrial Economics)

  • Edvin Hertegård

    (Stockholm University)

  • Martin Nybom

    (Uppsala University)

  • Jan Stuhler

    (UC3M - Universidad Carlos III de Madrid [Madrid])

Abstract

We study how students adjust their early career choices in response to economic crises, and how this behavioral response affects their long-run labor market outcomes. We specifically examine the context of the severe recession that struck Sweden in the early 1990s, which disproportionally affected the manufacturing and construction sectors. We find that students who experienced paternal job loss in these heavily affected sectors were more likely to choose high school programs linked to sectors less impacted by the recession. As a result, these individuals achieved better labor market outcomes in adulthood, including higher employment rates and career earnings. Our findings are consistent with informational frictions being a key obstacle to structural change, and we identify career choice as an important mechanism through which recessions reshape labor markets in the very long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Julien Grenet & Hans Grönqvist & Edvin Hertegård & Martin Nybom & Jan Stuhler, 2024. "How Early Career Choices Adjust to Economic Crises," Working Papers halshs-04431902, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-04431902
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04431902v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    High School Major; Recession; Information Frictions; Structural Change High School Major; Structural Change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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