Women’s Labor Force Exits during COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity

Katherine Lim and Mike Zabek

No 2021-067r1, Finance and Economics Discussion Series from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: While the descriptive impacts of the pandemic on women have been well documented in the aggregate, we know much less about the impacts of the pandemic on different groups of women. After controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics, including occupation and industry, we find that the pandemic led to significant excess labor force exits among women living with children under age six relative to women without children. We also find evidence of larger increases in exits among lower-earning women. The presence of children predicted larger increases in exits during the pandemic among Latina and Black women relative to White women. Overall, we find evidence that pandemic induced disruptions to childcare, including informal care from family and friends. Our results suggest that the unique effect of childcare disruptions during the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial and income inequalities among women.

Keywords: Women; Labor Force Participation; Race; Ethnicity; Labor Supply; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H31 I14 I18 J16 J70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 p.
Date: 2021-10-18, Revised 2023-07-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Women’s Labor Force Exits During COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2021-67

DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2021.067r1

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