IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp14811.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market: The COVID Motherhood Penalty

Author

Listed:
  • Couch, Kenneth A.

    (University of Connecticut)

  • Fairlie, Robert W.

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Xu, Huanan

    (Indiana University)

Abstract

We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using CPS data through the end of 2020. We find that male-female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional child care responsibilities (the "COVID motherhood penalty"). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men.

Suggested Citation

  • Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2021. "The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market: The COVID Motherhood Penalty," IZA Discussion Papers 14811, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp14811.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gema Zamarro & María J. Prados, 2021. "Gender differences in couples’ division of childcare, work and mental health during COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 11-40, March.
    2. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "Early evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on minority unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2013. "The Feasibility and Importance of Adding Measures of Actual Experience to Cross-Sectional Data Collection," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(S1), pages 17-58.
    4. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    5. Fairlie, Robert W, 1999. "The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 80-108, January.
    6. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    7. Zveglich, Joseph E. & van der Meulen Rodgers, Yana & Laviña, Editha A., 2019. "Expected work experience and the gender wage gap: A new human capital measure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 372-383.
    8. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    9. Laura Montenovo & Xuan Jiang & Felipe Lozano Rojas & Ian M. Schmutte & Kosali I. Simon & Bruce A. Weinberg & Coady Wing, 2020. "Determinants of Disparities in Covid-19 Job Losses," NBER Working Papers 27132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Tatyana Deryugina & Olga Shurchkov & Jenna Stearns, 2021. "COVID-19 Disruptions Disproportionately Affect Female Academics," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 164-168, May.
    11. Alexander W. Bartik & Marianne Bertrand & Feng Lin & Jesse Rothstein & Matthew Unrath, 2020. "Measuring the Labor Market at the Onset of the COVID-19 Crisis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 239-268;316.
    12. Jane Waldfogel, 1998. "Understanding the "Family Gap" in Pay for Women with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 137-156, Winter.
    13. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    14. Michelle Holder & Janelle Jones & Thomas Masterson, 2021. "The Early Impact of Covid-19 on Job Losses among Black Women in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1-2), pages 103-116, April.
    15. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    16. Titan Alon & Matthias Doepke & Jane Olmstead-Rumsey & Michèle Tertilt, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_163, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    17. Stefania Albanesi & Jiyeon Kim, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 Recession on the US Labor Market: Occupation, Family, and Gender," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 3-24, Summer.
    18. Claudia Goldin & Joshua Mitchell, 2017. "The New Life Cycle of Women's Employment: Disappearing Humps, Sagging Middles, Expanding Tops," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 161-182, Winter.
    19. Joseph Ernest Zveglich, Jr. & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers & Editha Laviña, 2019. "Expected Work Experience: A New Human Capital Measure," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 570, Asian Development Bank.
    20. Chinhui Juhn & Kristin McCue, 2017. "Specialization Then and Now: Marriage, Children, and the Gender Earnings Gap across Cohorts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 183-204, Winter.
    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. Amairisa Koukia & Robert M. Sauer, 2022. "Remote Work, Children’s Health and the Racial Gap in Female Wages," CHILD Working Papers Series 104 JEL Classification: C, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    2. Kouki, Amairisa & Sauer, Robert M., 2022. "Remote Work, Children's Health and the Racial Gap in Female Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 15072, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Nan L. Maxwell & Nathan Wozny, "undated". "Gender Gaps in Time Use and Earnings: What's Norms Got to Do With It?," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 38f127bf7f494794807db7a3a, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "The Impacts of COVID-19 on Minority Unemployment: First Evidence from April 2020 CPS Microdata," IZA Discussion Papers 13264, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Holly Monti & Martha Stinson & Lori Zehr, 2020. "How Long Do Early Career Decisions Follow Women? The Impact of Employer History on the Gender Wage Gap," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 189-232, September.
    6. Katherine Lim & Mike Zabek, 2024. "Women’s Labor Force Exits During COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 504-527, September.
    7. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Briel, Stephanie, 2022. "The gender pay gap revisited: Does machine learning offer new insights?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Assaf Rotman & Hadas Mandel, 2023. "Gender-Specific Wage Structure and the Gender Wage Gap in the U.S. Labor Market," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 585-606, January.
    9. Benjamin Artz, 2024. "Are Mothers More Likely Than Fathers to Lose Their jobs?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 528-545, September.
    10. Nan L. Maxwell & Nathan Wozny, 2021. "Gender Gaps in Time Use and Labor Market Outcomes: What’s Norms Got to Do with it?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 56-77, March.
    11. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.
    12. Kouki, Amairisa, 2023. "Beyond the “Comforts” of work from home: Child health and the female wage penalty," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. 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).
    14. Fairlie, Robert W., 2003. "An Extension of the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Technique to Logit and Probit Models," Center Discussion Papers 28425, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    15. Fairlie Robert & Woodruff Christopher M., 2010. "Mexican-American Entrepreneurship," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, February.
    16. Kenneth A. Couch & Robert W. Fairlie & Huanan Xu, 2023. "Racial disparities in unemployment during the COVID‐19 pandemic and recovery: The “stubborn,” the “hiccup,” and the “stall”," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 480-495, July.
    17. Frank M. Fossen, 2012. "Gender differences in entrepreneurial choice and risk aversion -- a decomposition based on a microeconometric model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(14), pages 1795-1812, May.
    18. Wolff, François-Charles, 2012. "Decomposition of non-linear models using simulated residuals," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 346-348.
    19. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Best, Rohan & Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2025. "Towards a just transition: Unpacking the gender differences in household cleaner energy use," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    20. R. Mussa, 2014. "Extending the Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition to the Independent Double Hurdle Model: With Application to Parental Spending on Education in Malawi," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 39-54, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp14811. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.