Consumer's Use of Credit as a Financing Medium : The Impact of Employment Instability

미국 소비자들의 소비자 신용 이용 분석: 고용불안정성 요인의 효과를 중심으로

This study attempted to examine the employment instability on consumer's use of credit as a financing medium. The purpose of this study was 1) to examine the effect of employment related factors on consumers' use of credit; 2) to compare the results between the two different economic situations. A conceptual framework was developed based on the permanent income hypothesis, family stress theory, and the previous empirical studies. Using data on working households ih the 1992 and 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), double-hurdle analyses were conducted. The results suggested that employment related factors that measured employment stability were significantly related to the likelihood of having an outstanding balance on their credit account but were not the influential factors in determining the amount of the outstanding balance. Among other factors, resources factor played the most significant role in determining both the likelihood of having an outstanding balance and the amount of the balance. Although the 1992 and 1998 data represent economic downturn and economic prosperous period, the effects of the factors including employment instability factors were similar between the two periods. This imply that employment instability has increased even in the economic prosperous period. From the findings, several implications for policy makers, credit industry, and financial educators were suggested.