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Estimating the Effect of Working from Home on Parents' Division of Childcare and Housework: A New Panel IV Approach

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  • Schüller, Simone

    (German Youth Institute (DJI))

Abstract

This study investigates whether (and how) working from home (WFH) affects the gender division of parental unpaid labor. I use the recent COVID-19 pandemic that brought an unanticipated yet lasting shift to WFH combined with a measure of occupational WFH feasibility (Alipour et al. 2023) as a quasi-experiment to employ an instrumental variable (IV) approach and estimate causal effects. I use unique longitudinal data from the "Growing up in Germany" ( AID:A) panel study, which administered a prepandemic wave in 2019, and a post-pandemic wave in 2023. AID:A contains rich information on mothers' and fathers' time use for work, commuting, childcare, and housework. I find that the most robust effects emerge for paternal WFH intensity (at least weekly WFH) on parental division of housework: families in which fathers start weekly WFH in the period 2019 to 2023—due to their occupational WFH capacity in combination with the pandemic WFH-boost—experience a significant decrease in the maternal share of parental housework. Interestingly, this shift appears to be mainly driven by a reduction of maternal time use for housework (combined with an increase of her work hours) and less by an increase in paternal time use for housework suggesting crossparent effects of WFH.

Suggested Citation

  • Schüller, Simone, 2025. "Estimating the Effect of Working from Home on Parents' Division of Childcare and Housework: A New Panel IV Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 17694, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17694
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Victor Alipour, 2025. "Does Remote Work Reinforce Gender Gaps in (Un)Paid Labor?," CESifo Working Paper Series 12052, CESifo.
    2. Jean-Victor Alipour, 2026. "Performance Pay in the Hybrid Work Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 12680, CESifo.
    3. Costa-Font, Joan & Wang, Wanying, 2026. "Caring flexibly? working conditions and the supply of adult care," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 140228, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Jean-Victor Alipour, 2025. "Does Remote Work Reinforce Gender Gaps in (Un)Paid Labor?," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 542, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.

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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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