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This Time It's Different: The Role of Women's Employment in a Pandemic Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Titan Alon

  • Matthias Doepke

  • Jane Olmstead-Rumsey

  • Michèle Tertilt

Abstract

In recent US recessions, employment losses have been much larger for men than for women. Yet, in the current recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the opposite is true: unemployment is higher among women. In this paper, we analyze the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. We argue that women have experienced sharp employment losses both because their employment is concentrated in heavily affected sectors such as restaurants, and due to increased childcare needs caused by school and daycare closures, preventing many women from working. We analyze the repercussions of this trend using a quantitative macroeconomic model featuring heterogeneity in gender, marital status, childcare needs, and human capital. Our quantitative analysis suggests that a pandemic recession will i) feature a strong transmission from employment to aggregate demand due to diminished within-household insurance; ii) result in a widening of the gender wage gap throughout the recovery; and iii) contribute to a weakening of the gender norms that currently produce a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in home work and childcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Titan Alon & Matthias Doepke & Jane Olmstead-Rumsey & Michèle Tertilt, 2020. "This Time It's Different: The Role of Women's Employment in a Pandemic Recession," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_198, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_198
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    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Economic consequences > Employment and Work > Intra-household allocation

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ritzen, Jozef M., 2020. "Once the great lockdown is lifted: Post COVID-19 options for the economy," MERIT Working Papers 2020-057, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Tőkés, László, 2025. "Javítja-e a női munkavállalók válság állóságát a női döntéshozók jelenléte?. Nemi homofília és a she-cession jelenség [Does the presence of female decision-makers improve the crisis resilience of f," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 141-157.
    3. Faberman, R. Jason & Mueller, Andreas I. & Şahin, Ayşegül, 2022. "Has the Willingness to Work Fallen during the Covid Pandemic?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Todd Potts & Jennifer Roy, 2025. "The heterogeneous impact of uncertainty shocks on labour market outcomes for men and women," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(50), pages 8327-8345, October.
    5. Clara von Bismarck-Osten & Kirill Borusyak & Uta Schönberg, 2022. "The role of schools in transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus: quasi-experimental evidence from Germany," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 87-130.
    6. Taiyo Fukai & Hidehiko Ichimura & Keisuke Kawata, 2021. "Describing the impacts of COVID-19 on the labor market in Japan until June 2020," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 439-470, July.
    7. Nicole Hiekel & Mine Kühn, 2024. "Lessons from the pandemic: Gender inequality in childcare and the emergence of a gender mental health gap among parents in Germany," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 51(3), pages 49-80.
    8. Halim, Daniel & Hambali, Sean & Purnamasari, Ririn Salwa, 2023. "Not All That It Seems : Narrowing of Gender Gaps in Employment during the Onset of COVID-19 in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10337, The World Bank.
    9. Singh, Vikkram & Shirazi, Homayoun & Turetken, Jessica, 2022. "COVID-19 and gender disparities: Labour market outcomes," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 206-217.
    10. Kouki, Amairisa, 2023. "Beyond the “Comforts” of work from home: Child health and the female wage penalty," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Bluedorn, John & Caselli, Francesca & Hansen, Niels-Jakob & Shibata, Ippei & Tavares, Marina M., 2023. "Gender and employment in the COVID-19 recession: Cross-Country evidence on “She-Cessions”," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.
    13. Scott, Douglas & Freund, Richard & Favara, Marta & Porter, Catherine & Sanchez, Alan, 2021. "Unpacking the Post-lockdown Employment Recovery of Young Women in the Global South," IZA Discussion Papers 14829, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Youngsoo Jang & Minchul Yum, 2024. "Aggregate and Intergenerational Implications of School Closures: A Quantitative Assessment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 90-130, July.
    15. Nicholas Bloom & Philip Bunn & Paul Mizen & Pawel Smietanka & Gregory Thwaites, 2025. "The Impact of Covid-19 on Productivity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 107(1), pages 28-41, January.
    16. Sugawara, Shinya & Nakamura, Jiro, 2021. "Long-term care at home and female work during the COVID-19 pandemic," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(7), pages 859-868.
    17. Kugler, Maurice & Viollaz, Mariana & Duque, Daniel & Gaddis, Isis & Newhouse, David & Palacios-Lopez, Amparo & Weber, Michael, 2023. "How did the COVID-19 crisis affect different types of workers in the developing world?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    18. repec:dem:wpaper:wp-2023-007 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Frank Weikai Li & Baolian Wang, 2025. "The gender effects of COVID: evidence from equity analysts," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 1683-1715, June.
    20. Shaofeng Xu & Jie Feng, 2024. "Home production and time use in an epidemic," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(4), pages 1391-1433, November.
    21. repec:hal:journl:hal-03627187 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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