Income Dynamics After Divorce. A Latent Growth Model of Income Change on the European Community Household Panel

Women suffer from severe income losses after partnership dissolution. This finding has been confirmed in many international comparative studies. Men on the other hand do not experience income decreases to the same extent. This article uses the European Household Panel (ECHP) to look at income dynamics after relationship dissolution. First, income declines are modelled. Second, the article looks at the two main strategies to cope with the economic consequences of a separation :repartnering and (re)employment. Using a multilevel growth model, the (relative) effect of both strategies is assessed in a cross-national longitudinal perspective. While men do not benefit financially form cohabiting with a new partner at all, repartnering proves to outweigh the benefits of re-entering the labour force or increasing the working hours for most women.