Working Paper

Parents in a Pandemic Labor Market

Abstract: Gender gaps in labor market outcomes during the pandemic are largely due to differences across parents: Employment and labor force participation fell much less for fathers as compared to women and non-parent men at the onset of the pandemic; the recovery has been more pronounced for men and women without children, and; the labor force participation rate of mothers has resumed declining following the start of the school year. The latter is partially offset in states with limited school re-openings. Evidence suggests flexibility in setting work schedules offsets some of the adverse impact of the pandemic on mothers’ employment, while the ability to work from home does not.

Keywords: Labor supply; work flexibility; childcare; COVID-19;

JEL Classification: D10; E24; J16; J21;

https://doi.org/10.24148/wp2021-04

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Part of Series: Working Paper Series

Publication Date: 2021-02-04

Number: 2021-04

Related Works

• https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/working-papers/2021/04/