Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries

Titan Alon (), Matthias Doepke, Kristina Manysheva () and Michele Tertilt
Additional contact information
Titan Alon: University of California, San Diego
Kristina Manysheva: Northwestern University

No 15013, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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.

Keywords: women’s labor supply; pandemics; COVID-19; gender equality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 J16 J20 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2022-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2022, 112, 272 - 276

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Related works:
Journal Article: Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries (2022)
Working Paper: Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries (2022)
Working Paper: Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries (2022)
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