Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250674 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15013
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In many high-income economies, the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented declines in women's employment. We examine how the forces that underlie this observation play out in developing countries, with a specific focus on Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. A force affecting high- and low-income countries alike are increased childcare needs during school closures; in Nigeria, mothers of school-age children experience the largest declines in employment during the pandemic, just as in high-income countries. A key difference is the role of the sectoral distribution of employment: whereas in high-income economies reduced employment in contact-intensive services had a large impact on women, this sector plays a minor role in low-income countries. Another difference is that women's employment rebounded much more quickly in low-income countries. We conjecture that large income losses without offsetting government transfers drive up labor supply in low-income countries during the recovery.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
pandemics
women's labor supply
gender equality
JEL: 
E32
J16
J20
O10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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