The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Inequality: A Study on Cross-Sector Inequality in the US

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial employment losses in the US. To understand how this impact fell on male and female workers unevenly, I empirically investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the gender inequality in labor markets and analyze the variation in effects across sectors. I find that the COVID-19 pandemic influences all sectors to different degrees, with the tertiary (service) sector hit the hardest. The pandemic has also exacerbated gender inequality in certain sectors, but not all: women working in the tertiary sector are most economically harmed, while sectors that rely mostly on knowledge and technology tend to work remotely and generally have the least impact in working hours from the pandemic. The intersectionality of race, gender, and educational attainment also contributes to the disparities in labor markets across all sectors. Results also show that marriage benefits employment, and that having children under the age of five could slightly disadvantage workers in the labor markets.