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This paper uses data from the age 33 wave of the British National Child Development Survey (NCDS) to analyze the effects of a parental disruption (divorce or death of a father) on the labour market performance of children when they reach adulthood. The NCDS is a longitudinal study of all children born during the first week of March 1958 in England, Scotland, and Wales. Controlling for a rich set of pre-disruption characteristics, the results indicate that a parental disruption leads to moderately less employment among males and considerably lower wage rates among females at age 33. If pre-disruption characteristics are not controlled for, larger effects are estimated for both males and females. Parental disruption also seems to cause substantial reductions in educational attainment for both males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the individual's choice of activity on completion of compulsory schooling – to remain in full-time education or to seek employment – and the factors influencing this decision. Information from the England and Wales Youth Cohort Studies, coupled with labour market data, is used to estimate of logit model of choice and assess the role played by social and market factors. The results show that labour market conditions play an influential role in determining outcomes, particularly in the case of young males with weaker academic qualifications. Consistent with the time-series evidence, we find that participation rates in further education for both males and females are positively related to the unemployment rate in the local labour market, the effects being greater at times of economic recession when unemployment rates are rising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]