The Start of Working Life as the Trigger for the Residential Independence of Youth in Mexico

Abstract

Whereas in Western European and North American countries the lack of employment appears to be delaying the age when young people leave the parental home, in Mexico youth begins it transition to adulthood by joining the labor market. Some are incorporated into economic activity by being employed as secondary labor, and part of a family survival strategy, in which case the start of their working lives seeks primarily to contribute to the family economy, rather than to achieve economic independence. In this context, the aim of this paper is to analyze the effect on Mexican youth of leaving the parental home once they start work. Young people that leave the parental home to start a conjugal union are analyzed separately from those that leave home for other reasons. Excluding particular individual and familial characteristics, the author finds that starting work is strongly and positively linked to leaving the parental home in both kinds of departure, but particularly so among those that leave home for other reasons than to begin living with their partners.