IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/intere/v55y2020i6d10.1007_s10272-020-0938-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Working from Home and COVID-19: The Chances and Risks for Gender Gaps

Author

Listed:
  • Melanie Arntz

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

  • Sarra Ben Yahmed

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

  • Francesco Berlingieri

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic causes a record number of people to work from home, this disruptive event will likely have a long-lasting impact on work arrangements. Given existing research on the effects of working from home on hours worked and wages, an increased availability of working from home may provide a chance for women to catch up with their male counterparts. Yet, the need to simultaneously care for children during the COVID-19 lockdown may also revive traditional gender roles, potentially counteracting such gains. We discuss the likely effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender gaps in the labour market and at home in light of recent empirical findings and novel statistics on the heterogeneous structure of work arrangements among couples. We construct a novel teleworkability index that differentiates between fully teleworkable, partly teleworkable and on-site jobs and find that in about a third of households the COVID-19 shock is likely to induce shifts in the intra-household allocation of tasks from mothers to fathers.

Suggested Citation

  • Melanie Arntz & Sarra Ben Yahmed & Francesco Berlingieri, 2020. "Working from Home and COVID-19: The Chances and Risks for Gender Gaps," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 55(6), pages 381-386, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:intere:v:55:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s10272-020-0938-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10272-020-0938-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10272-020-0938-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10272-020-0938-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas Bloom & James Liang & John Roberts & Zhichun Jenny Ying, 2015. "Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 165-218.
    2. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2017. "Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3722-3759, December.
    4. Erik Brynjolfsson & John J. Horton & Adam Ozimek & Daniel Rock & Garima Sharma & Hong-Yi TuYe, 2020. "COVID-19 and Remote Work: An Early Look at US Data," NBER Working Papers 27344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Arntz, Melanie & Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Berlingieri, Francesco, 2018. "Working from Home: Heterogenous Effects on Hours Worked and Wages," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181630, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Alipour, Jean-Victor & Falck, Oliver & Schüller, Simone, 2023. "Germany’s capacity to work from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Carsten Schröder & Theresa Entringer & Jan Goebel & Markus M. Grabka & Daniel Graeber & Hannes Kröger & Martin Kroh & Simon Kühne & Stefan Liebig & Jürgen Schupp & Johannes Seebauer & Sabine Zinn, 2020. "Vor dem Covid-19-Virus sind nicht alle Erwerbstätigen gleich," DIW aktuell 41, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Kohlrausch, Bettina & Zucco, Aline, 2020. "Die Corona-Krise trifft Frauen doppelt: Weniger Erwerbseinkommen und mehr Sorgearbeit," WSI Policy Briefs 40, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    9. Editorial Article, 0. "Contents," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 3.
    10. Marta Angelici & Paola Profeta, 2020. "Smart-working: Work Flexibility Without Constraints," CHILD Working Papers Series 77 JEL Classification: J1, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    11. Alipour, Jean-Victor & Falck, Oliver & Schüller, Simone, 2020. "Germany's Capacities to Work from Home," IZA Discussion Papers 13152, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Editorial Article, 0. "Contents," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 2.
    13. Editorial Article, 0. "Contents," Economics of Contemporary Russia, Regional Public Organization for Assistance to the Development of Institutions of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, issue 3.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mathieu P.A. Steijn, 2024. "The persistence and nature of the labor reallocation shock during the COVID-19 crisis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-047/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Paweł Ziemba & Mateusz Piwowarski & Kesra Nermend, 2023. "Remote Work in Post-Pandemic Reality—Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Teleconferencing Software," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Christina Boll & Simone Schüller, 2020. "The Situation is Serious, but Not Hopeless - Evidence-Based Considerations on the Intra-Couple Division of Childcare before, during and after the Covid-19 Lockdown," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1098, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Christina Boll & Dana Müller & Simone Schüller, 2023. "Neither backlash nor convergence: dynamics of intra-couple childcare division during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2020. "Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance: Differences between Homework and Work at the Workplace of the Company," IZA Discussion Papers 13504, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Coskun, Sena & Dauth, Wolfgang & Gartner, Hermann & Stops, Michael & Weber, Enzo, 2024. "Working from Home Increases Work-Home Distances," CEPR Discussion Papers 18914, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Wu, Hongyue & Chang, Yuan & Chen, Yunfeng, 2024. "Greenhouse gas emissions under work from home vs. office: An activity-based individual-level accounting model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    8. Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Claudio Giovanni Cortese & Monica Molino & Paola Pasca & Enrico Ciavolino, 2023. "Development and validation of the Remote Working Benefits & Disadvantages scale," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1159-1183, April.
    9. Christina Boll & Dana Müller & Simone Schüller, 2021. "Neither Backlash nor Convergence: Dynamics of Intracouple Childcare Division after the First Covid-19 Lockdown and Subsequent Reopening in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 9091, CESifo.
    10. Drago, Carlo & Errichiello, Luisa, 2024. "Remote Work admist the Covid-19 outbreak: Insights from an Ensemble Community-Based Keyword Network Analysis," FEEM Working Papers 341640, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    11. Nilmini M. Rathnayake & Pivithuru J. Kumarasinghe & Ajantha S. Kumara, 2022. "How Do Different Types of University Academics Perceive Work from Home Amidst COVID-19 and Beyond?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Aidan Caplan & Tristan Caplan, 2024. "Measuring Trends in Work From Home: Evidence from Six U.S. Datasets," Working Papers 2024-023, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    13. Mung Khie Tsen & Manli Gu & Chee Meng Tan & See Kwong Goh, 2023. "Homeworking and Employee Job Stress and Work Engagement: A Multilevel Analysis from 34 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 511-538, August.
    14. Marks-Bielska, Renata & Bórawski, Piotr 1 & Sierzputowska, Anna, 2023. "Światowa Pandemia Covid-19 A Rynek Pracy W Polsce," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2023(3).
    15. Christina Boll & Simone Schüller, 2020. "Die Lage ist ernst, aber nicht hoffnungslos – empirisch gestützte Überlegungen zur elterlichen Aufteilung der Kinderbetreuung vor, während und nach dem COVID-19 Lockdown," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1089, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    16. Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Checchi, Daniele & Corak, Miles & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Neidhöfer, Guido & Tertilt, Michele & Tommasi, Mariano, 2020. "COVID-19 and inequality," ZEW policy briefs 5/2020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Ştefan-Alexandru Catană & Sorin-George Toma & Andreea Barbu, 2021. "The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teleworking and Education in a Romanian Higher Education Institution: An Internal Stakeholders Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Martin Abraham & Natascha Nisic & Miriam Trübner & Hanna Walch & Anja Wunder, 2024. "The role of generalized trust and control in the employment of domestic help – An experimental case study for Germany and the UK," Rationality and Society, , vol. 36(2), pages 230-253, May.
    19. Anika Intesar, 2021. "An Untold Pandemic: Triple Burden of Working Women during COVID-19 Pandemic in Dhaka, Bangladesh," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(5), pages 510-518, May.
    20. Corsi, Marcella & Ilkkaracan, Ipek, 2022. "COVID-19, Gender and Labour," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1012, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    21. Eva Bezak & Kristin V. Carson-Chahhoud & Loredana G. Marcu & Magdalena Stoeva & Lenka Lhotska & Gilda A. Barabino & Fatimah Ibrahim & Eleni Kaldoudi & Sierin Lim & Ana Maria Marques da Silva & Peck Ha, 2022. "The Biggest Challenges Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender-Related Work from Home in Biomedical Fields—World-Wide Qualitative Survey Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-16, March.
    22. Jean-Victor Alipour & Oliver Falck & Alexandra Mergener & Simone Schüller, 2020. "Wiring the Labor Market Revisited: Working from Home in the Digital Age," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 21(03), pages 10-14, September.
    23. Ourania Tzoraki & Svetlana Dimitrova & Marin Barzakov & Saad Yaseen & Vasilis Gavalas & Hani Harb & Abas Haidari & Brian P. Cahill & Alexandra Ćulibrk & Ekaterini Nikolarea & Eleni Andrianopulu & Miro, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Conditions, Employment, Career Development and Well-Being of Refugee Researchers," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, July.
    24. Grażyna Bartkowiak & Agnieszka Krugiełka & Sebastian Dama & Paulina Kostrzewa-Demczuk & Elżbieta Gaweł-Luty, 2022. "Academic Teachers about Their Productivity and a Sense of Well-Being in the Current COVID-19 Epidemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. A. Cetrulo & D. Guarascio & M. E. Virgillito, 2022. "Working from home and the explosion of enduring divides: income, employment and safety risks," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 345-402, July.
    2. Bloom, Nicholas & Davis, Steven J. & Hansen, Stephen & Lambert, Peter John & Sadun, Raffaella & Taska, Bledi, 2023. "Remote work across jobs, companies and space," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Otto, Anne & Fuchs, Michaela & Stabler, Jochen, 2021. "Systemrelevante Berufe und das Potenzial für Homeoffice: Eine geschlechtsspezifische Bestandsaufnahme für das Saarland," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland 202101, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Deole, Sumit S. & Deter, Max & Huang, Yue, 2023. "Home sweet home: Working from home and employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Bamieh, Omar & Ziegler, Lennart, 2022. "Are remote work options the new standard? Evidence from vacancy postings during the COVID-19 crisis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Erdsiek, Daniel, 2021. "Working from home during COVID-19 and beyond: Survey evidence from employers," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-051, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Otto, Anne & Fuchs, Michaela & Wydra-Somaggio, Gabriele & Stabler, Jochen, 2021. "Systemrelevante Berufe und das Potenzial für Homeoffice: Eine geschlechtsspezifische Bestandsaufnahme für Rheinland-Pfalz," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland 202102, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Fuchs, Michaela & Otto, Anne & Fritzsche, Birgit, 2021. "Systemrelevante Berufe und das Potenzial für Homeoffice: Eine geschlechtsspezifische Bestandsaufnahme für Sachsen-Anhalt," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Sachsen-Anhalt-Thüringen 202102, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    9. Astorquiza-Bustos, Bilver Adrian & Quintero-Peña, Jose Wilmar, 2023. "Who can work from home? A remote working index for an emerging economy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    10. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Work that can be done from home: evidence on variation within and across occupations and industries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Pouliakas, Konstantinos, 2020. "Working at Home in Greece: Unexplored Potential at Times of Social Distancing?," IZA Discussion Papers 13408, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Gavoille, Nicolas & Hazans, Mihails, 2022. "Personality Traits, Remote Work and Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 15486, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Arntz, Melanie & Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Berlingieri, Francesco, 2022. "Working from home, hours worked and wages: Heterogeneity by gender and parenthood," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Duanyi Yang & Erin L. Kelly & Laura D. Kubzansky & Lisa Berkman, 2023. "Working from Home and Worker Well-being: New Evidence from Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(3), pages 504-531, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Luca Bonacini & Giovanni Gallo & Sergio Scicchitano, 2021. "Working from home and income inequality: risks of a ‘new normal’ with COVID-19," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 303-360, January.
    17. Fuchs, Michaela & Otto, Anne & Fritzsche, Birgit, 2021. "Systemrelevante Berufe und das Potenzial für Homeoffice: Eine geschlechtsspezifische Bestandsaufnahme für Thüringen," IAB-Regional. Berichte und Analysen aus dem Regionalen Forschungsnetz. IAB Sachsen-Anhalt-Thüringen 202101, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    18. Jean-Victor Alipour & Oliver Falck & Simone Schüller, 2020. "Homeoffice während der Pandemie und die Implikationen für eine Zeit nach der Krise," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(07), pages 30-36, July.
    19. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Motegi, Hiroyuki, 2021. "Who can work from home? The roles of job tasks and HRM practices," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Erdsiek, Daniel & Rost, Vincent, 2022. "Working from home after COVID-19: Firms expect a persistent and intensive shift," ZEW Expert Briefs 22-06, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:intere:v:55:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s10272-020-0938-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.