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Gender Differences in Reduced Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic – the Role of Working Conditions

Author

Listed:
  • Zoch, Gundula

    (Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe)

  • Bächmann, Ann-Christin

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe)

  • Vicari, Basha

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany)

Abstract
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had very different impacts on the employment and family work conditions of men and women. Thus, it might have jeopardised the slow and hard-won reduction of gender inequalities in the division of labour achieved in recent decades. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and its supplementary COVID-19 web survey for Germany, we investigate the relationship between working conditions and gender differences in subjective well-being during the first months of the pandemic. Therefore, we systematically consider the household context by distinguishing between adults with and without young children. The results from multivariate regression models accounting for pre-corona satisfaction reveal a decline in all respondents’ life satisfaction, particularly among women and mothers with young children. However, the greater reduction in women’s well-being cannot be linked to systematic differences in working conditions throughout the pandemic. Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder counterfactual decompositions confirm this conclusion. However, further robustness checks suggest that women’s societal concerns and greater loneliness partly explain the remaining gender differences during the first months of the crisis. From a general perspective, our results suggest important gender differences in social life and psychological distress in spring 2020, which are likely to become more pronounced as the crisis unfolds." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Zoch, Gundula & Bächmann, Ann-Christin & Vicari, Basha, 2021. "Gender Differences in Reduced Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic – the Role of Working Conditions," IAB-Discussion Paper 202104, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
  • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202104
    as

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    File URL: https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2021/dp0421.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mathias Huebener & Sevrin Waights & C. Katharina Spiess & Nico A. Siegel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Parental well-being in times of Covid-19 in Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 91-122, March.
    2. Bruce Headey & Jonathan Kelley & Alex Wearing, 1993. "Dimensions of mental health: Life satisfaction, positive affect, anxiety and depression," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 63-82, May.
    3. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Pandemie ; Auswirkungen ; Determinanten ; Frauen ; geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren ; Lebenssituation ; Männer ; Mütter ; psychische Faktoren ; Nationales Bildungspanel ; Arbeitsbedingungen ; soziale Isolation ; Zufriedenheit ; 2019-2020;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy

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