Gender and employment in the COVID-19 recession: Cross-Country evidence on “She-Cessions”

John Bluedorn, Francesca Caselli, Niels-Jakob Hansen, Ippei Shibata and Marina Tavares

Labour Economics, 2023, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: 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 sample of 38 advanced and emerging market economies. We show that there is a large degree of heterogeneity across countries, with about two-thirds exhibiting larger declines in women's than men's employment rates. These gender differences in COVID-19′s effects were typically short-lived, lasting 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.

Keywords: COVID-19 recession; Employment; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E32 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:81:y:2023:i:c:s0927537122001981

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102308

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