IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v67y2024i1d10.1007_s41027-024-00481-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labour Market Flows and Gender Differentials in Urban Unemployment over the Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Paaritosh Nath

    (Azim Premji University)

  • Rahul Menon

    (O.P. Jindal Global University)

Abstract

Utilising data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), we estimate quarterly changes in urban labour market flows over the period 2018–2022 and the impact on unemployment rates for men and women. Our analysis provides non-intuitive explanations for established findings as well as pointing out important questions for further study. Both men and women’s unemployment rates have reduced in 2022 compared to 2018, showing rapid reductions following the high levels reached during the lockdown. Women’s unemployment rates have consistently been higher than men throughout this period. The gap between men and women’s unemployment rates reduced during the lockdown, but have shown signs of increasing since 2021, even as unemployment rates have fallen. For women, flows from the labour force to non-participation play a larger role in explaining changes in unemployment rates as compared to men. Flows from the labour force to non-participation, however, have reduced since the pandemic, providing an explanation as to why labour force participation rates (LFPRs) have increased, namely women staying for longer in the labour force rather than more women entering it. Despite rising LFPRs, the gender gap in unemployment rates have risen, in contrast to developed economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Paaritosh Nath & Rahul Menon, 2024. "Labour Market Flows and Gender Differentials in Urban Unemployment over the Pandemic," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 67(1), pages 73-96, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:67:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-024-00481-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-024-00481-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-024-00481-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-024-00481-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghazala Azmat & Maia Güell & Alan Manning, 2006. "Gender Gaps in Unemployment Rates in OECD Countries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 1-38, January.
    2. Stefania Albanesi & Aysegul Sahin, 2018. "The Gender Unemployment Gap," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 30, pages 47-67, October.
    3. Michael W. L. Elsby & Jennifer C. Smith & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2011. "The role of worker flows in the dynamics and distribution of UK unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 27(2), pages 338-363.
    4. Jitender Singh, 2023. "Unemployment Fluctuations in Urban Labour Market in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 81-111, March.
    5. Anindita Sengupta, 2023. "Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment and Earning in Urban India during the First Three Months of Pandemic Period: An Analysis with Unit-Level Data of Periodic Labour Force Survey," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 283-298, March.
    6. Partha Chatterjee & Aakash Dev, 2023. "Labour Market Dynamics and Worker Flows in India: Impact of Covid-19," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 299-327, March.
    7. Ashwini Deshpande, 2022. "The Covid-19 pandemic and gendered division of paid work, domestic chores and leisure: evidence from India’s first wave," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 75-100, April.
    8. Panchanan Das, 2023. "Creation and Destruction of Jobs in Urban Labour Market: Role of Gender, Caste and Religion in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 225-237, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Rica & Yolanda F. Rebollo-Sanz, 2017. "Gender Differentials in Unemployment Ins and Outs during the Great Recession in Spain," De Economist, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 67-99, March.
    2. Bennani, Hamza, 2023. "Effect of monetary policy shocks on the racial unemployment rates in the US," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).
    3. Razzu, Giovanni & Singleton, Carl, 2016. "Gender and the business cycle: An analysis of labour markets in the US and UK," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB), pages 131-146.
    4. Alena Bičáková, 2016. "Gender unemployment gaps in the EU: blame the family," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Giovanni Razzu & Carl Singleton, 2018. "Segregation and Gender Gaps in the United Kingdom's Great Recession and Recovery," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 31-55, October.
    6. Feridoon Koohi-Kamali & Aida Farmand & Jose Pedro Bastos Neves, 2021. "The Duration of U.S. Joblessness and the Great Recession," SCEPA working paper series. 2021-03, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    7. Alexander Mihailov & Giovanni Razzu & Zhe Wang, 2020. "The Gender Unemployment Gap Across the Euro Area: The Role of Macroeconomic Shocks and Labour Market Institutions," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-26, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    8. Liu, De-chih, 2021. "The Unemployment Invariance Hypothesis: Does the Gender Matter?," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(2), pages 178-199, December.
    9. Mehmet Güney Celbiş & Pui‐hang Wong & Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID‐19 outbreak on older‐age cohorts in European Labor Markets: A machine learning exploration of vulnerable groups," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 559-584, April.
    10. Franciscos Koutentakis, 2015. "Gender Unemployment Dynamics: Evidence from Ten Advanced Economies," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(1), pages 15-31, March.
    11. Joana Passinhas & Isabel Proença, 2020. "Measuring the gender disparities in unemployment dynamics during the recession: evidence from Portugal," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(6), pages 623-636, February.
    12. Elsby, Michael W.L. & Hobijn, Bart & Şahin, Ayşegül, 2015. "On the importance of the participation margin for labor market fluctuations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 64-82.
    13. Chia Jung Chang, 2021. "Is the Road to Unemployment Paved with Good Intentions? Labor Market Outcomes of Young Women," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 244-302, June.
    14. Alison L. Booth, 2006. "The Glass Ceiling in Europe: Why Are Women Doing Badly in the Labour Market?," CEPR Discussion Papers 542, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    15. KonShik Kim, 2023. "The impact of job quality on organizational commitment and job satisfaction: The moderating role of socioeconomic status," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 773-797, August.
    16. José María Casado & Cristina Fernández-Vidaurreta & Juan F. Jimeno, 2012. "Labour flows in the EU at the beginning of the crisis," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue JAN, pages 91-101, January.
    17. Pizzinelli, Carlo & Speigner, Bradley, 2017. "Matching efficiency and labour market heterogeneity in the United Kingdom," Bank of England working papers 667, Bank of England.
    18. Kunze, Astrid & Troske, Kenneth R., 2012. "Life-cycle patterns in male/female differences in job search," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 176-185.
    19. Livia Alfonsi & Mary Namubiru & Sara Spaziani, 2024. "Gender gaps: back and here to stay? Evidence from skilled Ugandan workers during COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 999-1046, September.
    20. Luis Eduardo Arango & Ana María Ríos, 2015. "Duración del desempleo en Colombia: género, intensidad de búsqueda y anuncios de vacantes," BORRADORES DE ECONOMIA 012528, BANCO DE LA REPÚBLICA.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Gender; PLFS; Labour force; Transitions; Pandemic;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:67:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-024-00481-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.