Le Statut Résidentiel Affecte-t-il la Durée de Chômage ? Estimation microéconométrique de l’hypothèse d’Oswald sur données françaises

The objective of this paper is to provide microeconomic evidence for “Oswald’s hypothesis”, which is whether homeownership results in negative outcomes in the labour market. In a first step, a probit model for the choice of tenure status is estimated. The estimated probability of being a homeowner is 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 based on “TDE-MLT” survey suggest that home-ownership has a positive effect on unemployment duration, that is Oswald’s hypothesis is not invalidated.