ABSTRACT
The higher labour market expectations of Protestants were also apparent in reservation wages. Such expectations and opportunities clearly relate to past and present structural differences between Catholics and Protestants in the overall labour market. 'Rational' individuals, choosing how to allocate the scarce commodity, time, between two activities, work and 'leisure', are therefore assumed to supply labour hours up to the point where the wage rate equals the marginal rate of substitution between work and leisure. The difference in replacement rates between Catholic and Protestant men is likely to be influenced by higher earnings by Protestant men and therefore higher labour market expectations. Women were less likely to be looking for work than men but Catholic women were more likely to be searching than Protestant women. In contrast to the results for men, unemployment duration had little effect on women's likelihood to be searching for work.
