Do Women Pay for Working from Home? Exploring Gender Gaps in Pay and Wellbeing by Work Location in the UK Cohort Studies

Bożena Wielgoszewska (), Alex Bryson, Heather Joshi () and David Wilkinson ()
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Bożena Wielgoszewska: University College London
Heather Joshi: University College London
David Wilkinson: University College London

No 17405, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Working from home (wfh) has seen a rise in prevalence, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it is widely believed that wfh enables employees to better combine paid work with domestic duties, potentially enhancing work-life balance, emerging evidence suggests that it may also hinder career advancement and adversely affect mental health, with notable impacts on women. We employ longitudinal data from three British Cohort Studies, collected one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, to investigate the characteristics of those who report working from home and the relationship with gender disparities in hourly wages, mental health, and well-being. Using longitudinal data also allows us to control for cohort members' labour market situation prior to the pandemic, thereby helping to isolate the pandemic's effects. Our findings indicate that individuals who work from home typically receive higher wages compared to those who work from employers' premises, but the gender wage gap is most pronounced among those who work from home. Furthermore, consistent with the flexibility paradox, our analysis reveals that women who work from home - particularly those who work hybrid - experience the most detrimental mental health outcomes.

Keywords: gender; employment; remote working; working from home; hourly earnings; mental health; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E51 G21 G28 I2 J16 R51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2024-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-hea, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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