Open Access Journal Article

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: Evidence from China

by Dong Zhou a ,  Langchuan Peng b,* orcid  and  Shouer Chen a
a
Department of Cultural Industry and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
b
Institute of Economics and Finance, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
EAL  2023 2(1):18; https://doi.org/10.58567/eal02010008
Received: 3 April 2023 / Accepted: 4 May 2023 / Published Online: 12 May 2023
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Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s employment and gender disparity with a longitudinal dataset spanning the pandemic. We exploit the regional intensities of social vulnerability and temporal variation to implement the difference-in-differences (DID) estimation. The results indicate that the pandemic and its associated lockdowns generate a significant and negative impact on women’s employment but not on men’s employment. Moreover, a counterfactual analysis using pre-pandemic data further supports the causal nature of the documented relationships. The evidence suggests that economic downturns caused by public health emergencies, unlike previous economic recessions, have a greater impact on women, and differentiated policies should be designed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Employment; Gender differences; Difference-in-differences;
Copyright: © 2023 by Zhou, Peng and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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APA Style
Zhou, D., Peng, L., & Chen, S. (2023). The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: Evidence from China. Economic Analysis Letters, 2(1), 18. doi:10.58567/eal02010008
ACS Style
Zhou, D.; Peng, L.; Chen, S. The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: Evidence from China. Economic Analysis Letters, 2023, 2, 18. doi:10.58567/eal02010008
AMA Style
Zhou D, Peng L, Chen S. The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: Evidence from China. Economic Analysis Letters; 2023, 2(1):18. doi:10.58567/eal02010008
Chicago/Turabian Style
Zhou, Dong; Peng, Langchuan; Chen, Shouer 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: Evidence from China" Economic Analysis Letters 2, no.1:18. doi:10.58567/eal02010008