Research Note: Gender Differences in Employment During the COVID-19 Epidemic

We investigate the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on gender disparities in three employment outcomes: labor force participation, full-time employment, and unemployment. Using data from the monthly Current Population Survey, in this research note we test individual fixed-effects models to examine th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Demography 2022-02, Vol.59 (1), p.13-26
Main Authors: Villarreal, Andrés, Yu, Wei-hsin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Developing Countries
Economic impact
Economics
Educational Status
Effects
Employment
Employment status
Epidemics
Female
Gender
Gender aspects
Gender differences
Gender inequality
Humans
Labor
Labor force
Labor force participation
Long term
Long-term effects
Men
Population Studies
RESEARCH NOTES
SARS-CoV-2
Seasonal variations
Sex differences
Sex Factors
Social Class
Socioeconomic Factors
Sociology
Unemployment
Women
Women's Rights
Womens employment
Working women
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Summary:We investigate the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on gender disparities in three employment outcomes: labor force participation, full-time employment, and unemployment. Using data from the monthly Current Population Survey, in this research note we test individual fixed-effects models to examine the employment status of women relative to that of men in the nine months following the onset of the epidemic in March of 2020. We also test separate models to examine differences between women and men based on the presence of young children. Because the economic effects of the epidemic coincided with the summer months, when women's employment often declines, we account for seasonality in women's employment status. After doing so, we find that women's full-time employment did not decline significantly relative to that of men during the months following the beginning of the epidemic. Gender gaps in unemployment and labor force participation did increase, however, in the early and later months of the year, respectively. Our findings regarding women's labor force participation and employment have implications for our understanding of the long-term effects of the health crisis on other demographic outcomes.
ISSN:0070-3370
1533-7790
DOI:10.1215/00703370-9710353