Impact of Teleworking on Childcare Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Owner-Occupied Housing

Abstract

Stay-at-home restrictions in several countries to prevent any further transmission of the COVID-19 virus during the pandemic have exogenously encouraged many workers and companies to adopt telework. This study discusses the relationship between teleworking and childcare participation, taking the housing environment into consideration by utilizing data from the Japan Household Panel Survey and its supplementary modules on COVID-19, which were conducted in 2020. After controlling for individual and household attributes, region, and housing characteristics, we find that regular employed male teleworkers living in owner-occupied detached housing increase the ratio of childcare time to work time by 31.6 percentage points than workers living in other housing arrangements during the pandemic. Regular employed female teleworkers increase the same ratio by 125.7 percentage points in September when regular schooling resumed. This suggests that sufficient space and housing ownership may have a substantial effect on time devoted for childcare by teleworkers.