Conferences

Studying the changing economic situation of different types of households across longer time periods typically poses problems of comparability of the underlying household definition. The German Microdata Lab (GML) recently constructed a cumulative file based on German Mikrozensus data from 1962 to 2005. The file is a cumulation of the scientific use versions of the Mikrozensus data, it allows the flexible construction of various indicators of social change in the western part of Germany.

The relative welfare position of different household types is a matter of great political concern. An empirically valid answer to the question of how this position has been changing across time presupposes an output harmonization of the concept of household type. Due to the increase in the number of cohabiting couples, marital status cannot be used as a defining criterion. We have therefore developed a comparable typology with 6 categories based on the presence of children, the presence of a couple and total household size.

A descriptive analysis shows first a large reduction in the proportion of households with more than one adult containing children and secondly increases in the number of single adult and single parent households.

Using the typology we are able to demonstrate a massive historical loss of relative material welfare for single parent households from the 1960s until 2004. In the same time period, dual parent households with children experience some loss of welfare – however to a significantly lesser degree.

Childless couples turn out to be the winners of the historical period, they are able to ameliorate their position in comparison to all other groups. These results do not only hold on a purely descriptive level but also controlling for the household’s labour force participation, education and community size.