Homeownership, Labour Market Transitions and Earnings

The paper investigates the links between homeownership, employment and earnings for which no consensus exists in the literature. Our analysis is cast within a carefully specified dynamic setting, and uses the French sample of the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions for the years 2004–2013. Results show that while homeowners have longer employment and unemployment spells, they must contend with lower earnings than tenants upon reemployment. They also stress the importance of unobserved differences between individuals in explaining the transitions on the labour and housing markets, and the relationship between these two types of transitions and earnings.