Women’s Labor Force Exits During COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity

While the descriptive impacts of the pandemic on women have been well documented in the aggregate, we know much less about the impacts of the pandemic on different groups of women. After controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics, including occupation and industry, we find that the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family and economic issues 2024-09, Vol.45 (3), p.504-527
Main Authors: Lim, Katherine, Zabek, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black people
Black white differences
Central banks
Child care
Children
COVID-19
Demography
Earnings
Employment
Ethnicity
Families & family life
Family
Gender differences
Grandparents
Income inequality
Informal care
Labor force
Labor supply
Marital status
Minority & ethnic groups
Mothers
Original Paper
Pandemics
Personality and Social Psychology
Race
Racial differences
Social Policy
Social Sciences
Sociology
White people
Women
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Summary:While the descriptive impacts of the pandemic on women have been well documented in the aggregate, we know much less about the impacts of the pandemic on different groups of women. After controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics, including occupation and industry, we find that the pandemic led to significant excess labor force exits among women living with children under age six relative to women without children. We also find evidence of larger increases in exits among lower-earning women. The presence of children predicted larger increases in exits during the pandemic among Latina and Black women relative to White women. Overall, we find evidence that pandemic induced disruptions to childcare, including informal care from family and friends. Our results suggest that the unique effect of childcare disruptions during the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial and income inequalities among women.
ISSN:1058-0476
1573-3475
DOI:10.1007/s10834-023-09916-w