Gender Gap In Unemployment Research Articles

Working mothers' dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from China

There is increasing evidence from developed countries showing that the COVID-19 recession disproportionately impacted the female labor force, causing a “She-cession”. This paper investigates the magnitude of the “She-cession” in China. Using a unique three-wave employee tracking survey of China in 2020, we portrayed the temporal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women during and post the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Our results show a widening gender gap in unemployment, hours worked, and monthly salary throughout 2020. Marital status and children exacerbated the gender gaps; as expected, working mothers with a child aged 0–6 experienced the most adverse labor market outcomes. Moreover, working mothers with a child aged 0–6 displayed the worst mental health status compared to other groups throughout 2020.

Gender gaps from labor market shocks

Job loss leads to persistent adverse labor market outcomes, but assessments of gender differences in labor market recovery are lacking. We utilize plant closures in Denmark to estimate gender gaps in labor market outcomes and document that women face an increased risk of unemployment and lose a larger share of their earnings in the two years following job displacement. The majority of the gender gap in unemployment remains after accounting for observable differences in human capital across men and women. In a standard decomposition framework, we document that child care imposes an important barrier to women’s labor market recovery regardless of individual characteristics.

АНАЛІЗ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ СКЛАДОВОЇ ЛЮДСЬКОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО СОЮЗУ

The article analyzes the main indicators of the functioning of the European Union's labor market, which characterize the socio-economic component of the EU's human potential. The study was conducted using such general scientific and special research methods as the method of abstraction, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, graphical and analytical method, and system analysis. The socio-economic component of the human potential of the European Union was considered through the following criteria: population dynamics, number of unemployed and unemployment rate (total and by gender), gender gap in unemployment, share of young people who do not work, study or acquire professional skills (NEET generation), employment rate (total, by gender and by age group), gender gap in employment, share of self-employed, temporarily employed and part-time workers. The analysis of these indicators made it possible to outline the state and trends in the development of the labor market and the socio-economic component of the human potential of the European Union. Based on the study, it was found that the labor market of the EU countries is slowly demonstrating positive dynamics of development and the following trends: a gradual decrease in the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed since 2013; excess of the unemployment rate of women over the unemployment rate of men – the gender gap in unemployment has hardly changed in recent years and remained at the level of 0.7 percentage points; a slight decrease in the share of young people who are not working, studying or acquiring professional skills; an increase in the employment rate; reduction of the gender gap in employment, albeit at a slower pace in recent years; changes in the structure of the EU labor market, namely an increase in the share of employed persons aged 55-64 and a decrease in the share of employed persons aged 15-24, a larger gender gap in employment in older age groups, an increase in the number and share of persons with higher secondary and higher education among those employed aged 20-64; a decrease in the share of part-time, temporary, and self-employed workers in the pre-pandemic period, and an increase in part-time and selfemployment during the pandemic in 2020-2021.

АНАЛІЗ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ СКЛАДОВОЇ ЛЮДСЬКОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ УКРАЇНИ

The main indicators of the labor market functioning are analyzed in the article, through which the socioeconomic component of human potential is characterized. Number of general scientific and special research methods were used during the research: the method of abstraction, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, graphic-analytical method, system analysis. The author considered the following criteria: population dynamics, unemployment rate (total, by sex, by age group and by region), gender gap in unemployment, part of young people who do not work, do not study and do not acquire professional skills (NEET generation), level employment (overall, by sex, by age groups and regions), gender gap in employment, part of self-employed and employed in the informal economy sector. On the basis of the research carried out by the author, it was found that the labor market of Ukraine is characterized by a demographic decline, which is also predicted during the next decades, a decrease in the number of economically active population; the dynamics of the level of unemployment in Ukraine is multidirectional, which in recent years was a consequence of the atypical nature of the COVID-19 pandemic; in the age structure of unemployment in Ukraine, there is a significant predominance of persons aged 15-24; in the gender structure of unemployment up to and including 2020, a significant male predominance was observed; the gender gap in unemployment is decreasing; part of young people aged 15-24 who do not work, do not study and do not acquire professional skills decreases at a slight rate; since 2019, the employment rate has a steady downward trend in all age groups, except for 50-59 years; the gender structure of employment shows a significant male predominance; the gender gap in employment is quite large; part of self-employed and employed in the informal sector of the economy has remained almost unchanged in recent years. Since 2018, the number of vacancies on the labor market has tended to decrease, while the number of unemployed has tended to increase. Based on the analysis of these indicators, were determined the global problems of the labor market and the formation of the socio-economic component of the Ukraine’s human potential.

Gender effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Swiss labor market.

We study the impact of the pandemic on gender gaps in labor market outcomes in Switzerland. Using the Swiss Labor Force Survey data, we document a significant increase in the gender gap in labor market participation. We find no evidence of a worsening of the unemployment gender gap during the pandemic, but we find that women were more likely to uptake short-time work (STW). Unlike the USA, the presence of children in the household did not worsen labor gender gaps. Sector and occupation, however, play an important role in explaining gender gaps. In particular, we document substantial heterogeneity in the effect of the pandemic on participation, STW, hours worked, and wage outcomes depending on the availability of telework in the respondent's occupation.

The Pro-cyclical Unemployment Gender Gap: A Household Occupational Portfolio Choice?

An empirical regularity in the US business cycles is that in recessions men's unemployment rate rises faster than women. This stylized-fact raises both empirical and theoretical questions. The notion of such distinctive pattern in the data is addressed with another regularity through an expenditure lens: can the relative volatility of consumption expenditures on non-durable goods, durable goods, and services inform about the corresponding occupational labor demand? And what if occupational demand meets a gender segregated occupational supply? By mapping a gender-colored occupational index into the three aggregate types of real personal consumption expenditures, we are able to show a correspondence between gender unemployment dynamics and consumption volatility. As for the cause, we develop a model that shows that gender differences in risk-aversion can lead to labor segregation based on occupational economic risk, which , in turn is realized in terms of the likelihood of unemployment spells. We look at the time series data of consumption expenditure as well as different gender- decomposition of labor market variables provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the United States for the period 2000-2019.

Análisis territorial del desempleo por género en la Comunidad de Madrid durante la crisis (2008-2014)

Desde hace décadas la problemática de género ha cobrado un notable protagonismo, pero hay una escasez de estudios que aborden la cuestión del género en el ámbito territorial, y más en el contexto temporal actual de profunda crisis económica. En esta contribución se estudian las características y evolución del desempleo según género en La Comunidad de Madrid en el periodo 2008-2014. El trabajo se divide en dos partes: en la primera se estudia la caracterización del desempleo según género en relación con algunas variables sociodemográficas. En la segunda se adopta una perspectiva espacial: se reconocen las diferencias intermunicipales en el ritmo de crecimiento del paro de hombres y mujeres durante los últimos años y también los patrones de distribución espacial por género en la Comunidad de Madrid. Por último, se aplican técnicas de análisis estadístico espacial que permiten detectar estructuras espaciales del desempleo femenino y su comparación con el caso de los hombres. Los resultados confirman que, a pesar de haber descendido la brecha de género en el desempleo, persisten grandes diferencias espaciales.

Industrial Effects on Male and Female Unemployment Over the Great Recession: An Interurban Analysis

This study looks at the determinants of the interurban variation in male and female unemployment in 2009, a recession year and 2014, a recovery year. We hypothesize that the variation in male and female unemployment is informed by different factors or react to these determinants differently. Industrial shifts in employment across the nation are examined, allowing us to gain insight into the unemployment gender gap and its evolution in recent years, especially in the recent business cycle that includes the Great Recession. The use of cross-sectional data makes an original contribution by analyzing how interurban effects might have impacted recent unemployment levels. JEL Classifications: R10, R64, J16

Gender gaps in recurrence and concentration of unemployment: Evidence from youth leaving France’s education system

This study proposes a welfare-based analysis of the gender gap in unemployment by examining the gender differences in the concentration and repeated spells of unemployment using data from the French cohort survey ("Enquête Génération") regularly conducted by the French Center for Studies and Research on Qualifications (CEREQ). In fact, studies on the gender gap in unemployment have focused primarily on the unemployment rate, ignoring the welfare dimension of the issue. This former captures only the cross-section elements of unemployment, omitting its longitudinal and repetitive aspects, which are of crucial interest from a welfare perspective, especially if unemployment is measured over a period of time (say one year or more). Building upon previous research on the measurement of unemployment and on explaining recurrent spells of unemployment, we propose a welfare-based analysis of gender gaps in unemployment. Unemployment involves welfare loss that can be analyzed through its recurrence and concentration. Both recurrence and concentration of unemployment lead to unstable and difficult living conditions. We use (Shorrocks A, J Eco Inequal 7: 295–310, 2008b) index of unemployment and count data models to apprehend and model these two aspects of unemployment. Then, we apply a regression-based decomposition method to identify the factors behind the gender gaps in recurrent unemployment and concentration of unemployment among youth leaving the education system in France. The results suggest that the gender gaps in recurrent unemployment and concentration of unemployment result from differences in the way young females and males are treated in the labor market.JEL CodesJ16; J64; J71; C41; D63

Transitions in the Labour Market: Discouragement Effect and Individual Characteristics

AbstractThe present work analyses the unemployment gender gap in Italy for the period 2004–11. We present a methodology for decomposing the natural rate of unemployment, thus defining it in terms of equilibrium labour market flows between the aggregate states of the labour market (Employment, Unemployment, Inactivity). In addition, we offer estimates of the determinants of the unemployment gender gap to pinpoint the relative role of individual characteristics and structural factors in determining this difference.

Women during Recessions in France and Germany

This article explores the gender biases of recessions and policy responses they have entailed in France and Germany in the 2000s. During the Great Recession, France experienced a significant rise in both female and male unemployment. Germany apparently witnessed a gendered “employment miracle” and is thus cited as a model, especially for its structural labour market reforms, often presented as the reason for its current employment performance. In both countries, economic downturns have hit male-dominated sectors and men’s employment first, thereby leading to a reduction or a reversal of the unemployment gender gap and challenging the male (main) breadwinner model. If women did not withdraw from the labour market, they have not been spared economic hardship: their employment and social conditions were hit in the second stages of recessions and impaired by austerity measures and structural reforms, especially in Germany. While recovery plans and labour market policies have provided support for male-dominated sectors, structural labour market reforms and activation policies have deteriorated the quality of women’s employment.

The measurement of unemployment using completed durations: evidence on the gender gap in unemployment in France

This paper examines how unemployment can be measured in a normative fashion - taking into account the mean and inequality of spell lengths - and how the extent of unemployment can be estimated from cross section data of the type found in labour force surveys. The issue is not straightforward since in these surveys completed durations of unemployed individuals are not observed yet they constitute the basis for calculating the kind of index that has been proposed to measure the extent of unemployment in a way that goes beyond the unemployment rate. The index proposed by Shorrocks has robust normative foundations and has an equivalent representation in terms of average complete duration and the density of completed durations. Building upon earlier work applied in the United States for estimating the average completed duration, we present a method that enables the index to be calculated based on an estimate of the density of completed durations. The approach is illustrated in the context of comparing male-female unemployment differences in France, where historically female unemployment has been higher than that of males.

The Gender Unemployment Gap

The unemployment gender gap, defined as the difference between female and male unemployment rates, was positive until 1980. This gap virtually disappeared after 1980, except during recessions when men's unemployment rate always exceeds women's. We study the evolution of these gender differences in unemployment from a long-run perspective and over the business cycle. Using a calibrated three-state search model of the labor market, we show that the rise in female labor force attachment and the decline in male attachment can mostly account for the closing of the gender unemployment gap. Evidence from nineteen OECD countries also supports the notion that convergence in attachment is associated with a decline in the gender unemployment gap. At the cyclical frequency, we find that gender differences in industry composition are important in recessions, especially the most recent, but they do not explain gender differences in employment growth during recoveries.

The Unemployment Gender Gap During the 2007 Recession

Women fared decidedly better than men during the most recent recession. By August 2009, the unemployment rate for men had hit 11.0 percent, while that for women held at 8.3 percent. This 2.7 percentage point unemployment gender gap - the largest in the postwar era - appears to reflect two factors: First, men were much more heavily represented in the industries that suffered the most during the downturn. Second, there was a much sharper increase in the percentage of men who - prompted, perhaps, by a decline in household liquidity - rejoined the labor force but failed to find a job.

HIGHLY EDUCATED BUT IN THE WRONG FIELD?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of gender differences in tertiary education, i.e., field of study and level of tertiary degree, on two selected labour market risks: unemployment and low-status jobs. Using Labour Force Survey data from the year 2000, results of the logistic regression models and non-linear decomposition analyses generally confirm our expectation that the field of study explains a sizable portion of the gender gap in unemployment and low-status jobs in both countries. However, the level of tertiary degree earned explains only part of the female disadvantage behind holding a low-status job in Spain. The analyses also show that compared to men, women with a degree in a predominantly male field of study seem to be systematically disadvantaged in both Germany and Spain, particularly with respect to unemployment. Overall, the analyses reveal that gender differentiation in tertiary education leads to similar outcomes in two very different institutional contexts.

Explaining the Gender Gap in Unemployment Across Countries

We model a mechanism which can generate most of the gender gap in unemployment observed in most of the OECD countries. The main components of the model are moral hazard, labor market institutions, and higher home productivity of women than men. The source of moral hazard is imperfect monitoring performed by the government. Higher home productivity of women makes them more likely to reject job offers and to stay unemployed which causes higher unemployment level for women. We find that each component has a quantitatively large effect on unemployment levels.

Les femmes françaises face au chômage : une inégalité en déclin

L’inegalite des femmes et des hommes face au chomage est souvent denoncee dans la litterature economique. Les pays industrialises presentent a cet egard des situations variees, mais l’inegalite au depens des femmes est caracteristique des economies sud-europeennes. En France, l’inegalite des sexes face au chomage est souvent invoquee pour symboliser les difficultes que rencontrent les femmes sur le marche du travail, en particulier pour trouver un emploi lorsqu’elles decident d’etre actives. Nous utilisons plusieurs indicateurs pour mesurer l’ecart entre femmes et hommes face au chomage, au cours des quarante dernieres annees. L’inegalite apparait plus nuancee que ne le vehiculent les discours stereotypes : 1) elle s’est effectivement amplifiee jusqu’au milieu des annees 1980 ; 2) de nombreux indicateurs relativisent son ampleur actuelle ; 3) depuis le debut des annees 1990, l’inegalite se reduit rapidement. Decomposee par groupes d’âge, l’inegalite suit des tendances similaires : elle baisse rapidement depuis une quinzaine d’annees ; jusqu’au debut des annees 1990, les jeunes femmes etaient les plus affectees par le chomage, mais en quinze ans leur situation s’est pratiquement reequilibree ; aujourd’hui, l’essentiel de l’inegalite se concentre sur les âges intermediaires (25-49 ans), pour lesquels le comblement de l’ecart est reel, mais moins rapide. Enfin, nous analysons l’inegalite en decomposant, d’une part les caracteristiques de demandeurs d’emplois (par sexe, type de contrat recherche, temps partiel ou complet, etc.), d’autre part les caracteristiques des emplois crees. Si on met de cote la remuneration et la qualite des emplois trouves, les structures d’offre et de demande apparaissent tres similaires. Ce resultat est coherent avec la convergence des taux d’emploi et de chomage des deux sexes, contribuant egalement a relativiser l’inegalite face au chomage.