What is it about?
This article analyses gender differences in COVID-19 effects on employment, paid working hours and hourly wages, taking into consideration the national lockdowns and emergency childcare for essential workers in the Netherlands. A key focus is on single parents who faced particular disadvantages in work-care balance. The paper provides causal evidence on the gender differences in COVID-19 effects on employment, paid working hours and hourly wages by essential/non-essential worker status and household composition. The COVID-19 literature is based on small survey samples that make it difficult to identify small, disadvantaged groups. This research uses administrative data on an entire population to study these groups.
Featured Image
Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Key highlights: 1) Non-essential workers (especially women) fare worse than essential workers 2) Women are more likely to be essential workers than men (52% versus 28%) 3) On average, COVID-19 effects did not widen the gender gap in employment 4) Partnered essential workers with young children are no worse affected by the COVID-19 shock 5) Single parents (men and women) experience worse labour market outcomes 6) Overall, labour demand effects appear more important than labour supply effects of COVID-19 This research is relevant for policies that aim to limit the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market, as it provides a better understanding of how workers experienced the crisis and responded to the national lockdowns and governmental policies.
Perspectives
Although, like in many other countries, female workers are affected more than male workers when (young) children are present, the impacts on labour supply in the Netherlands are likely to be smaller than in countries with higher average hours worked, especially since in the Netherlands both male and female working hours are substantially lower than the average for all OECD countries combined. As a result combining family and work, even in the challenging circumstances of the pandemic, may be easier in the Netherlands than in many other countries, at least for two-parent families. However, our research suggests that the Dutch emergency childcare policy was not sufficient for single parent essential workers to balance family and paid work during the societal lockdown.
Dr Jordy Meekes
Universiteit Leiden
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Essential work and emergency childcare: identifying gender differences in COVID-19 effects on labour demand and supply, Oxford Economic Papers, July 2022, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/oep/gpac030.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
