Getting a job and leaving home in Europe

In almost all developed countries, questions are asked about the changes that are affecting the transition to adulthood of those generations born since the 1960s. In this study, based on the CHER data, we have attempted to analyze the differences in the rate at which various stages in the transition to adulthood are experienced, while taking account of the diversity of the countries and a few variables that characterize individual situations. We have used survival models, which means that initially we must focus on attrition. The differences in the attrition rate which affects the responses of young people (15- 35 years old) and the population as a whole should not dissuade us from attempting to investigate patterns of home leaving or entry to the labour market. In general, men leave the parental home later than women. Economic inactivity or unemployment encourage young people to stay with their parents while being a student or in training leads them to leave. Men work earlier than women. Those young people who do not live with their parents enter the labour market later. This is probably due to the effect of student status which often leads young people to take independent housing. Neither educational attainment nor parental income has any effect. As suggested by Esping-Andersen, welfare measures which are intended to assist the integration of young people are a factor which encourages them to leave the parental home while the family's resources act in the other direction. It is nevertheless necessary to make a distinction between men and women, the former (together with women with a career) tend to give priority to entry to the labour market , while the latter are more willing to leave the parental home to live as part of a couple. Women are responsible for more variation between countries than men in the area of the linkage between entry to the labour market and leaving the parental home. Gender is therefore an essential factor in a study of this type.