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More than a She-recession: Long-term feminization and short-term pandemic effects

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  • Nelli, Linnea
  • Virgillito, Maria Enrica

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis has been defined as a "She-recession" because of its disproportionate impact on female employment by contrast to past recessions defined as "Man-recessions", for the usual disproportionate impact on men. The roots of the She-recession can be however traced back to the persistence of gender asymmetries both intra-household and extra-household in the labour market, a phenomenon known as feminization. This paper aims at measuring and explaining the gender differences in the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the Italian labour market from a macroeconomic perspective. We measure the duration, depth and diffusion of the Covid-19 crisis on job losses, structural unemployment and inactivity. We find that the impact of the Covid-19 crisis has been more than proportional for women, especially for low educated female workers and working in the South during 2020.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelli, Linnea & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2023. "More than a She-recession: Long-term feminization and short-term pandemic effects," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1291, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1291
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    feminization; hysteresis; labour markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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