Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”

By John C Bluedorn, Francesca Caselli, Niels-Jakob H Hansen, Ippei Shibata, Marina Mendes Tavares

March 31, 2021

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John C Bluedorn, Francesca Caselli, Niels-Jakob H Hansen, Ippei Shibata, and Marina Mendes Tavares. Gender and Employment in the COVID-19 Recession: Evidence on “She-cessions”, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2021) accessed December 30, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

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.

Subject: Employment, Employment rate, Gender, Gender inequality, Labor, Labor markets, Women

Keywords: COVID-19 recession, Employment, Employment rate, Gender, Gender gap change, Gender inequality, Global, Labor force participation contribution, Labor market change, Labor markets, Sectoral employment, Sectoral workforce composition, Women

Publication Details

Pages:

24
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2021/095
Stock No:

WPIEA2021095
ISBN:

9781513575926
ISSN:

1018-5941

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