The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the euro area labour market for men and women

This box documents the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis on the euro area labour market for men and women. Based on available data up to the end of 2020, the COVID-19 crisis led to a decline in the labour force, a fall in employment and an increase in unemployment, with different developments for men and women across time. Preliminary evidence suggests that workers from both genders benefited from the widespread use of job retention schemes. Still, the decline in average hours worked was somewhat more pronounced for men than for women. The reasons behind the decline in average hours worked differed across gender, with the decline in average hours worked for men driven in part by a decrease in contractual hours and for both men and women by ad hoc reductions in hours worked. This, in turn, increased the gap between the actual hours worked and the contractual hours of work. These developments can also be attributed to the asymmetric sectoral impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Overall, the available evidence suggests that both men and women were strongly affected by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the euro area labour market. JEL Classification: E24, J11, J16, J21