Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”
Author | : Mr. John C Bluedorn |
Publisher | : International Monetary Fund |
Total Pages | : 24 |
Release | : 2021-03-31 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781513575926 |
ISBN-13 | : 1513575929 |
Rating | : 4/5 (26 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: 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.