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The differential impact by gender of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labor outcomes of older adults

Author

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  • Domenico Depalo

    (Banca d’Italia)

  • Santiago Pereda-Fernández

    (Universidad de Cantabria)

Abstract

We study the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic during the first semester of 2020 on the labor market outcomes of elderly workers, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. We measure the gender gap in the conditional mean of the probability of experiencing a job interruption, of changing the number of hours worked, and of working from home. We control for a rich set of observable characteristics, including several measures of cognitive and non-cognitive ability. We apply decomposition methods to distinguish, on the one hand, the part of the gap that is due to gender differences in the endowments of the determinants of the outcome in question and, on the other, to gender differences in the effects of these determinants. We find that there is no gender gap in the probability of experiencing a job interruption nor in the probability of working fewer hours than before the pandemic. In contrast, there were significant differences in the probability of increasing the amount of worked hours or working remotely, which were larger for females in both cases. For the latter variable, the difference is largely attributable to different endowments between men and women. However, the gap in the probability of working longer hours is mostly attributable to the coefficients component.

Suggested Citation

  • Domenico Depalo & Santiago Pereda-Fernández, 2023. "The differential impact by gender of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labor outcomes of older adults," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 503-553, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:14:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s13209-023-00289-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-023-00289-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities; COVID-19; Remote working; SHARE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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