Status Maintenance in the School-to-Work Transition: Dual Family Resources and Strategic Adaptation under Changing Returns

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 15: Labor Markets and Mobility

Abstract

Abstract: ​​This study examines how family backgrounds shape school-to-work transition(STWT) duration across changing labor market conditions in China over the past thirty years as a way of status maintenance. We find that two family dimensions, parental education and parental occupational status, influence transition strategies differently. On average, individuals from families with higher education tend to enter employment more quickly, whereas those from high occupational status families are more likely to delay entry. However, when labor market risks intensify, both dimensions adopt similar strategic adjustments aimed at preserving status. In earlier cohorts with moderate unemployment and limited higher education expansion, transition duration has a positive effect on individuals’ first job occupational status, and rising youth unemployment leads advantaged families to delay employment, consistent with a job search logic in which longer search improves match quality. However, in later cohorts with intensified competition and high unemployment risks, transition duration becomes negatively associated with first-job occupational status, reflecting a signaling logic under increased labor market pressure. In this context, advantaged families turn to accelerated entry when youth unemployment rises in this cohort. These findings suggest status maintenance is a dynamic process shaped by the interaction between institutional change and family reaction, and different dimensions of family resources may play different roles in this process.

Author

• Jingyi Zuo, North Carolina State University