Tobias Karlsson

In this chapter, we investigate income differentials across the life cycle at the individual and household levels. The main contribution is to compile basic patterns of age–earnings relationships by sex, occupation and family situation. At the individual level we find age–earnings patterns similar to those observed for the period following the Second World War, for example in the seminal works of Gary Becker and Jacob Mincer. In contrast to studies of data from early industrial societies, where income growth was concentrated to a brief period in the beginning of working life, we find that people in Gothenburg experienced a rather prolonged period of income growth, before incomes reached a plateau. Women experienced income growth but to a lower degree and at a lower level than men. Moreover, while marriage was positively associated with earnings for men it was negatively associated with earnings for women. Over the life cycle, the earnings of the household were mainly determined by the husband’s earnings but adolescent children could also make substantial contributions to the household income. This result deserves to be emphasized: even though paid child labour was banned, youth labour was still important for many working-class households.