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Who is Doing the Chores and Childcare in Dual-earner Couples during the COVID-19 Era of Working from Home?

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  • Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff
  • Vernon, Victoria
Abstract
In 2020, parents' work-from-home days increased fourfold following the initial COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period compared to 2015-2019. At the same time, many daycares closed, and the majority of public schools offered virtual or hybrid classrooms, increasing the demand for household-provided childcare. Using time diaries from American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and looking at parents in dual-earner couples, we examine parents' weekday workday time allocated to paid work, chores, and childcare in the COVID-19 era by the couple's joint work location arrangements. We determine the work location of the ATUS respondent directly from their diary and proxy the partner's work-from-home status using the share of workers reporting work from home in their occupation. When their partners worked onsite, mothers and fathers working from home spent more time on childcare, especially mothers, compared to those on-site; fathers spent more time on household chores. However, only mothers' total unpaid and paid work burden was higher. In the fall, fathers working from home worked substantially fewer paid hours and spent even more time on household production. When both parents worked from home compared to both worked on-site, mothers and fathers working from home worked roughly equally fewer paid hours and did more secondary childcare, though fathers did more household production, suggesting they shared the increased work burden resulting from the pandemic more equally. However, in the fall, only mothers did more childcare when both worked from home. We also find that mothers spread their work throughout the day when working from home.

Suggested Citation

  • Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff & Vernon, Victoria, 2022. "Who is Doing the Chores and Childcare in Dual-earner Couples during the COVID-19 Era of Working from Home?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1056, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1056
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    Cited by:

    1. Amelia M. Biehl & Jill Hayter & Brian Hill, 2024. "Remote work and the effects on secondary childcare," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 71(4), pages 813-830, December.
    2. Elsner, Benjamin & Jindal, Manvi & Mascherini, Massimiliano & Nivakoski, Sanna, 2024. "Gender Gaps in Time Use: Pan-European Evidence from School Closures during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IZA Discussion Papers 17151, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. von Gaudecker, Hans-Martin & Holler, Radost & Simon, Lenard & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2023. "How has the increase in work from home impacted the parental division of labor?," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277603, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Beáta Nagy & Réka Geambașu & Orsolya Gergely & Nikolett Somogyi, 2023. "“In this together”? Gender inequality associated with home‐working couples during the first COVID lockdown," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1059-1079, May.
    5. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Victoria Vernon, 2022. "Telework, Wages, and Time Use in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 687-734, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; household production; childcare; telework; remote work; working from home; gender care gap; gender inequality; pandemic parenting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J29 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Other

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