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Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. John C Bluedorn
  • Francesca Caselli
  • Mr. Niels-Jakob H Hansen
  • Mr. Ippei Shibata
  • Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares

Abstract

Early evidence on the pandemic’s effects pointed to women’s employment falling disproportionately, leading observers to call a “she-cession.” This paper documents the extent and persistence of this phenomenon in a quarterly sample of 38 advanced and emerging market economies. We show that there is a large degree of heterogeneity across countries, with over half to two-thirds exhibiting larger declines in women’s than men’s employment rates. These gender differences in COVID-19’s effects are typically short-lived, lasting only a quarter or two on average. We also show that she-cessions are strongly related to COVID-19’s impacts on gender shares in employment within sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. John C Bluedorn & Francesca Caselli & Mr. Niels-Jakob H Hansen & Mr. Ippei Shibata & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares, 2021. "Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”," IMF Working Papers 2021/095, International Monetary Fund.
  • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/095
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fiaschi, Davide & Tealdi, Cristina, 2023. "The attachment of adult women to the Italian labour market in the shadow of COVID-19," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Cortes, Guido Matias & Forsythe, Eliza, 2021. "The heterogenous labour market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," CLEF Working Paper Series 40, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    3. Giulia Bettin & Isabella Giorgetti & Stefano Staffolani, 2024. "The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the gender gap in the Italian labour market," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-33, March.
    4. David H. Bernstein & Andrew B. Martinez, 2021. "Jointly Modeling Male and Female Labor Participation and Unemployment," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Seghezzi, Francesco & Serrani, Lavinia & Negri, Stefania & Virgili, Valeria, 2023. "DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable GroupsinPost-COVID-19 LabourMarkets. Report on Italy and Spain," SocArXiv v3zt7, Center for Open Science.
    6. Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2024. "Gender and Beyond: Employment Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-23, June.
    7. Stefani Milovanska-Farrington, 2021. "The Effect of COVID-19 as an Economic Shock on the Gender and Ethnic Gap in Labour Market Outcomes," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 9(2), pages 227-255, December.
    8. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2021. "COVID-19 and the Employment Gender Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 14711, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Brindusa Mihaela RADU & Mariana BALAN, 2022. "The Covid-19 Pandemic: Labour Market Implications For Youth Women," Internal Auditing and Risk Management, Athenaeum University of Bucharest, vol. 66(2), pages 9-19, September.
    10. Davide Fiaschi & Cristina Tealdi, 2022. "Young people between education and the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(7), pages 1719-1757, July.
    11. Fiaschi, Davide & Tealdi, Cristina, 2022. "Scarring Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Italian Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 15102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Geoffrey M. Ducanes & Vincent Jerald Ramos, 2023. "COVID-19 Lockdowns, Women's Employment, and the Motherhood Penalty: Evidence from the Philippines," Department of Economics, Ateneo de Manila University, Working Paper Series 202304, Department of Economics, Ateneo de Manila University.
    13. Ali Zarifhonarvar, 2023. "A Survey on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Labor Market," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, 03-2023.
    14. 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).
    15. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2023. "COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Pizzinelli, Carlo & Shibata, Ippei, 2023. "Has COVID-19 induced labor market mismatch? Evidence from the US and the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. Pamela Campa & Jesper Roine & Svante Strömberg, 2021. "Unequal Labour Market Impacts of COVID-19 in Sweden — But Not Between Women and Men," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(5), pages 264-269, September.
    18. Hu, Jiayin & Wang, Xuan & Yang, Qingxu & Yi, Junjian, 2024. "Gender disparities in the labor market during COVID-19 lockdowns: Evidence from online job postings and applications in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 199-215.
    19. Sanna Nivakoski & Massimiliano Mascherini, 2021. "Gender Differences in the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment, Unpaid Work and Well-Being in the EU," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(5), pages 254-260, September.

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