The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market: The COVID Motherhood Penalty

Kenneth Couch, Robert Fairlie and Huanan Xu ()
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Huanan Xu: Indiana University

No 14811, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using CPS data through the end of 2020. We find that male-female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional child care responsibilities (the "COVID motherhood penalty"). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men.

Keywords: gender inequality; female labor supply; pandemic; Coronavirus; COVID-19; child care; motherhood penalty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J16 J2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published - published in: Economic Inquiry, 2022, 60 (2), 485 - 507

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Related works:
Journal Article: The evolving impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on gender inequality in the US labor market: The COVID motherhood penalty (2022)
Working Paper: The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market: The COVID Motherhood Penalty (2021)
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