Welfare Rules, Business Cycles and the Employment of Single Parents

In spite of the frequent focus on work and welfare among single parents, surprisingly little has been known of their actual labour market attachment over time. In this article we use a specially prepared data set from the Norwegian Labour Force surveys to illuminate the labour force participation of single parents- mothers as well as fathers- since the 1980s. As a contrast, the development of single parents is compared to the development among married and cohabiting parents. Two conditions are assumed to be of particular significance to the labour force participation of single parents; on the one side changes in welfare benefit regulations, and on the other side changing macro-economic labour market conditions. The analysis shows that both conditions are significant, the latter however more so than the former. It appears therefore, that favourable economic conditions in the labour market are more likely than stringent welfare rules to lead to savings in public welfare expenditures on single parents