The Gendered Impact of the COVID-19 Recession on the US Labor Market

The Gendered Impact of the COVID-19 Recession on the US Labor Market
Author: Stefania Albanesi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 37
Release: 2021
Genre: COVID-19 (Disease)
ISBN:

The economic crisis associated with the emergence of the novel corona virus is unlike standard recessions. Demand for workers in high contact and inflexible service occupations has declined, while parental supply of labor has been reduced by lack of access to reliable child care and in-person schooling options. This has led to a substantial and persistent drop in employment and labor force participation for women, who are typically less affected by recessions than men. We examine real time data on employment, unemployment, labor force participation and gross job flows to document the gendered impact of the pandemic. We also discuss the potential long-term implications of this crisis, including the role of automation in depressing the recovery of employment for the worst hit service occupations.

The Gendered Impact of the Covid-19 Recession on the US Labor Market

The Gendered Impact of the Covid-19 Recession on the US Labor Market
Author: Stefania Albanesi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

The economic crisis associated with the emergence of the novel corona virus is unlike standard recessions. Demand for workers in high contact and inflexible service occupations has declined, while parental supply of labor has been reduced by lack of access to reliable child care and in-person schooling options. This has led to a substantial and persistent drop in employment and labor force participation for women, who are typically less affected by recessions than men. We examine real time data on employment, unemployment, labor force participation and gross job flows to document the gendered impact of the pandemic. We also discuss the potential long-term implications of this crisis, including the role of automation in depressing the recovery of employment for the worst hit service occupations.

Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”

Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”
Author: Mr. John C Bluedorn
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2021-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513575929

Early evidence on the pandemic’s effects pointed to women’s employment falling disproportionately, leading observers to call a “she-cession.” This paper documents the extent and persistence of this phenomenon in a quarterly sample of 38 advanced and emerging market economies. We show that there is a large degree of heterogeneity across countries, with over half to two-thirds exhibiting larger declines in women’s than men’s employment rates. These gender differences in COVID-19’s effects are typically short-lived, lasting only a quarter or two on average. We also show that she-cessions are strongly related to COVID-19’s impacts on gender shares in employment within sectors.

COVID-19 She-Cession: The Employment Penalty of Taking Care of Young Children

COVID-19 She-Cession: The Employment Penalty of Taking Care of Young Children
Author: Ms.Stefania Fabrizio
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2021-03-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 151357115X

The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain the virus have caused severe disruptions to labor supply and demand worldwide. Understanding who is bearing the burden of the crisis and what drives it is crucial for designing policies going forward. Using the U.S. monthly Current Population Survey data, this paper analyzes differences in employment responses between men and women. The main finding is that less educated women with young children were the most adversely affected during the first nine months of the crisis.The loss of employment of women with young children due to the burden of additional childcare is estimated to account for 45 percent of the increase in the employment gender gap, and to reduce total output by 0.36 percent between April and November 2020.

The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market

The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market
Author: Robert W. Fairlie
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using CPS data through the end of 2020. We find that male-female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional child care responsibilities (the "COVID motherhood penalty"). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men.

The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market

The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market
Author: Robert W. Fairlie
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-
ISBN:

We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using CPS data through the end of 2020. We find that male-female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional child care responsibilities (the "COVID motherhood penalty"). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men.

Gendered Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Transitioning from University to Labor Market

Gendered Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Transitioning from University to Labor Market
Author: Merve Demirel-Derebasoglu
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN:

The Covid-19 pandemic led to unprecedented disruptions in the labor market. Turkey implemented a worker dismissal ban to mitigate the adverse effects, effective from April 2020 to June 2021. The pandemic and unveiled measures put pressure against recent university graduates' successful transition to the labor market, who are already vulnerable to labor market shocks due to a dramatic increase in their number in the last decade. In this paper, we examine the gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and related employment protection policies on the labor market outcomes of recent university graduates. We find that both males and females are less likely to be employed during the pandemic year, with more pronounced employment losses for females. While gender differences in employment arise from females' high skill employment losses, becoming discouraged workers and staying out of the labor force to invest in self-education led to higher inactivity for females.

Digitalization and Employment Gender Gaps During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean

Digitalization and Employment Gender Gaps During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Yuanchen Yang
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2024-01-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Despite its negative effects, the COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated Latin America's digitalization. The rapid increase in connectivity and digital services was helpful in mitigating the pandemic's negative impact on the labor markets, especially for those with enough flexibility to continue working from home. The shock has particularly affected women due to their household responsibilities and labor market characteristics. This paper examines how digitalization may have affected gender gaps in employment and job loss related to the COVID-19 crisis. Using a sample of Latin American countries, our findings suggest that higher levels of digitalization are associated with increased female employment and reduced job loss for both men and women. These findings hold even after controlling for factors such as child care, household chores, and the COVID-19 shock. Our results are also robust to various econometric techniques.

From Mancession to Shecession

From Mancession to Shecession
Author: Titan Alon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2021
Genre: COVID-19 (Disease)
ISBN:

We examine the impact of the global recession triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic on women's versus men's employment. Whereas recent recessions in advanced economies usually had a disproportionate impact on men's employment, giving rise to the moniker "mancessions," we show that the pandemic recession of 2020 was a "shecession" in most countries with larger employment declines among women. We examine the causes behind this pattern using micro data from several national labor force surveys, and show that both the composition of women's employment across industries and occupations as well as increased childcare needs during closures of schools and daycare centers made important contributions. While many countries exhibit similar patterns, we also emphasize how policy choices such as furloughing policies and the extent of school closures shape the pandemic's impact on the labor market. Another notable finding is the central role of telecommuting: gender gaps in the employment impact of the pandemic arise almost entirely among workers who are unable to work from home. Nevertheless, among telecommuters a different kind of gender gap arises: women working from home during the pandemic spent more work time also doing childcare and experienced greater productivity reductions than men. We discuss what our findings imply for gender equality in a post-pandemic labor market that will likely continue to be characterized by pervasive telecommuting.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality

The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality
Author: Titan M. Alon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 37
Release: 2020
Genre: Coronavirus infections
ISBN:

The economic downturn caused by the current COVID-19 outbreak has substantial implications for gender equality, both during the downturn and the subsequent recovery. Compared to “regular” recessions, which affect men’s employment more severely than women’s employment, the employment drop related to social distancing measures has a large impact on sectors with high female employment shares. In addition, closures of schools and daycare centers have massively increased child care needs, which has a particularly large impact on working mothers. The effects of the crisis on working mothers are likely to be persistent, due to high returns to experience in the labor market. Beyond the immediate crisis, there are opposing forces which may ultimately promote gender equality in the labor market. First, businesses are rapidly adopting flexible work arrangements, which are likely to persist. Second, there are also many fathers who now have to take primary responsibility for child care, which may erode social norms that currently lead to a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in house work and child care.