Do Homeowners Stay Unemployed Longer? A French Micro-Econometric Study

The objective of this paper is to provide microeconomic evidence for the so called "Oswald's hypothesis", which is whether homeownership results in negative outcomes in the labour market. In a first step, a multinomial logit model for the choice of tenure status is estimated. Estimated probabilities of being either homeowner, renter or housed free of charge are then used to explain the length of an individual unemployment spell. This flexible method of estimation accounts for both censoring and selection bias, without constraining the shape of the hazard rate of leaving unemployment. Results from a 3,965 individuals French data set suggest that homeownership has a positive effect on unemployment duration