Gender Convergence in Couples' Time Use Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ariel Binder ()
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Ariel Binder: Resarch Fellow, American Institute for Boys and Men

No 18657, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: This paper uses American Time Use Survey data to show that prime-age men's and women's average weekly work hours followed parallel trends from 2011-19, but then abruptly converged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. This convergence was driven by the changing behavior of couples, for whom the gender gap in weekly hours of paid work closed by 4.3 on a base of 14.7 (29.3%). While historical gender convergence has been driven by wives, husbands accounted for three-quarters (all) of the recent convergence in paid work (unpaid housework). I find that two labor market factors associated with the pandemic - sectoral reallocation and remote work-exposure - explain little of observed time-use changes in samples of husbands and fathers, although they explain 44% of the shrinking college-noncollege gap in paid work observed among fathers. These results suggest an ongoing shift in labor supply factors associated with fatherhood that may be stronger among the college-educated.

Keywords: time use; employment; labor supply; housework; remote work; leisure; fatherhood; gender norms; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J16 J21 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18657

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