The Relationship Between Personality and Employment: Evidence From the Irish Marriage Bar

This article examines empirically the relationship between personality and employment using individual-level survey data collected in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). The analysis is based on a subsample of Irish women who left their jobs because of the so-called marriage bar, which was a legal requirement at the time that women must leave employment when they marry. Two groups of women are compared: Those who did, and those who did not, return to work after having to leave because of the marriage bar. The main finding is that personality does impact employment, with less agreeable and more extroverted women being more likely to return to work after a spell of non-employment. More generally, the analysis highlights the role of non-cognitive abilities in labor market success.