Workin’ moms ain’t doing so bad: Evidence on the gender gap in working hours at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic

Läuft bei Müttern: Zur Entwicklung der Geschlechterunterschiede in der Arbeitszeit während der Anfangsphase der COVID-19-Pandemie

Veronika Knize, Lina Tobler, Bernhard Christoph, Lukas Fervers and Marita Jacob

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2021, issue Early View

Abstract: In this project, we study employment respective working hours of men and women with and without children in the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany. We go beyond previous research as our observations period goes beyond the lockdown in Spring until August 2020. We use a unique panel dataset containing monthly survey data of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB-HOPP) combined with administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency. We observe a comparable reduction in working hours for both men and women during the spring lockdown. However, only the working hours of women recover and return to their pre-crisis level in summer 2020. Most surprisingly, having children has an accelerating effect on recovery for mothers but not for fathers. At the end of the observation period, fathers do not recover as fully as mothers do. These results challenge concerns about a temporary or possibly persistent ‘re-traditionalisation’ of gender roles during the COVID-19 crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19; gender; employment; work; family (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J16 J18 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:247150

DOI: 10.20377/jfr-714

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