Full Citation
Title: COVID-19 amplified gender disparities, hurting employment most for mothers and women of color
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and related recession layered a sudden economic shock atop persistent employment inequities. Beginning in March 2020, lockdowns shuttered businesses, schools, and many child-care providers. Steep employment loss and slow recovery hurt certain groups more than others, and women’s employment particularly suffered. To better understand the gendered effects of the pandemic-induced economic shock, we asked where gender employment gaps stood before the pandemic, which women were most impacted by employment loss, and who struggled most to recover employment as lockdowns lifted through June 2020. We find that in June 2020, the gender employment gap stood at nearly 15 percentage points—over 3 percentage points wider than before the onset of the pandemic, a period of relatively high employment. In exploring variation in this overall trend, we find that steep employment loss more gravely impacted two groups of women: those already suffering from low employment before the pandemic, and mothers of school-aged children, whose recovery of employment lost during initial lockdowns was particularly poor relative to fathers. The COVID-19 recession’s disparate impacts are less surprising when we consider the extent to which parental status and race/ethnicity shaped women’s employment before the pandemic. The dramatic increase in disparities during the recession serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities of certain populations to economic events. While our findings focus on the immediate effects of the pandemic shutdowns, the implications continue to reverberate years later, further underscoring the need for policy that not only mitigates the disproportionate impacts of economic shocks but also addresses underlying labor market disparities. This analysis points us toward solutions that address fundamental barriers to maximum employment.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Strull, Rebecca; Chaganti, Sara; Higgins, Amy; Mattingly, Marybeth J.
Publisher:
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS
Topics: Gender, Health, Work, Family, and Time
Countries: