Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/224004 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13562
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In recent US recessions, employment losses have been much larger for men than for women. Yet, in the current recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the opposite is true: unemployment is higher among women. In this paper, we analyze the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. We argue that women have experienced sharp employment losses both because their employment is concentrated in heavily affected sectors such as restaurants, and due to increased childcare needs caused by school and daycare closures, preventing many women from working. We analyze the repercussions of this trend using a quantitative macroeconomic model featuring heterogeneity in gender, marital status, childcare needs, and human capital. Our quantitative analysis suggests that a pandemic recession will i) feature a strong transmission from employment to aggregate demand due to diminished within-household insurance; ii) result in a widening of the gender wage gap throughout the recovery; and iii) contribute to a weakening of the gender norms that currently produce a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in home work and childcare.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
pandemics
recessions
business cycle
gender equality
school closures
childcare
gender wage gap
JEL: 
D13
E32
J16
J20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
2.39 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.