Gender, Labour Market and Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

This paper examines the gendered effects of monetary policy shocks on key labour market outcomes in the Euro Area spanned by the 11 original member states from 2000 to 2016. Using a quarterly panel dataset and an identification strategy based on high-frequency financial surprises, we isolate exogenous monetary policy shocks from central bank information effects and trace their transmission across labour market outcomes for men and women. We provide new evidence on the distributional consequences of the common monetary policy shocks originating at the European Central Bank. A contractionary shock significantly increases unemployment for both genders, with systematically larger effects for men. At the same time, women exhibit a stronger rise in labour force participation, consistent with household labour supply adjustments. Gender differences in unemployment and participation are primarily driven by individuals aged 25-55 and are most pronounced among those with basic and intermediate education. Finally, labour market institutions shape the magnitude of these effects, either mitigating or amplifying gender disparities.