Unemployment increases the risk of intimate partner separation

In recent decades, most European countries have experienced both high levels of divorce and separation and fluctuations in unemployment rates, which remain high in some countries. Is there a connection between unemployment and different-sex couple instability? Drawing on rich longitudinal data from Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, and Italy, INED senior researcher Anne Solaz together with other European researchers[1] have been able to measure relations between the two phenomena—being unemployed and risk of couple separation—for the first time at both the individual and aggregate levels. Their research study shows that men’s unemployment systematically increases the risk of separation, while women’s unemployment has less impact on couple stability. These results confirm the idea that employment and occupational status plays a more important role in the lives of men than women. However, while unemployment at the individual level has a notable impact on separation risk, that tie is not as strong during an economic downturn. 

While levels of separation vary from one European country to another, a common trend can be observed in all five countries analyzed: unemployment increases the probability of separation. For both men and women in couple relationships, being out of work nearly systematically increases the probability of separation (see figure below). However, the magnitude of that effect varies by country and sex. It is greater for unemployed men than unemployed women. The difference is most striking in Belgium (Flanders). But it remains significant, though smaller, in the other countries studied as well. In France, for example, when the male partner is unemployed rather than working, separation risk rises by 50%, as against a 40% increase in the case of female partner unemployment. Country differences reflect differences in women’s labor market participation. For example, in Finland and France, two countries with high female labor force participation in which the dual-earner couple model predominates, female partner unemployment now has a considerable effect on separation risk, close to that of male partner unemployment. 

Note: Probabilities predicted for Flanders, France, Germany, and Finland by keeping the average of all other covariables constant. 
Reading: The risk of separation in France when the male partner is unemployed is close to 3.8%, versus 2.6% when he’s working. 

For men and women alike in Belgium (Flanders) and France and for men in Germany, we find greater risk when unemployment hits during a period of economic growth than during a recession. In those three countries, then, individual job loss effect seems weaker when general unemployment is high. The exception is Finland, where that effect is not significant. As individual job loss effect is linked to macro-economic conditions, this finding may signify that less stigma attaches to unemployment when that phenomenon is at a high level anyway, suggesting that it may be less detrimental to union stability at such times. In contrast, being unemployed when relatively few people are—i.e., in a time of economic upswing—has a heavier impact on couple stability. 

Studies have already shown that unemployment (job loss), which is often unforeseen, may accentuate or create new couple relationship problems due to the psychological stress, health issues, and deterioration of well-being associated with losing income and social status. But the differences between men and women found on this score by the study suggest that gender relations shape the effects of unemployment on couple separation. The persistence of the male breadwinner model, more or less salient depending on the country, may explain why job loss has a greater disruptive effect when it happens to the male partner. Unemployment may lead to more detrimental “devaluation” effects for men. Men who are worried about not meeting intimate partner and family expectations may be more heavily affected (than women) by loss of self-esteem, diminished social relations, and psychological stress, experiences that may in turn lead to depression or addictive behavior, and so to poorer health. 

1 Marika JALOVAARA (University of Turku), Michaela KREYENFELD (Hertie School of Governance), Silvia MEGGIOLARO (University of Padova), Dimitri MORTELMANS (Universiteit Antwerpen), Inge PASTEELS (Hogeschool PXL)

Source : Anne Solaz, Marika Jalovaara, Michaela Kreyenfeld et al., 2020, "Unemployment and separation: Evidence from five European countries", Journal of Family Research 32: 145–176

Online: February 2021