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Work from home and perceived changes to work-life balance among mothers and fathers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Kurowska

    (Faculty of Political Studies and International Relations; Interdisciplinary Center for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam))

  • Agnieszka Kasperska

    (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences; Interdisciplinary Center for Labour Market and Family Dynamics (LabFam))

  • Gayle Kaufman

    (Department of Sociology, Davidson College Faculty of Economic Sciences)

Abstract

Better access to work from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic offered parents the possibility to accommodate increasing childcare needs, but at the same time it led to an unprecedented scale of workers performing paid and care work simultaneously. The overall effects of WFH on work-life balance (WLB) during the pandemic are thus not clear. In our study we argue that three important moderators alter the positive relationship between WFH on perceived changes to WLB during the pandemic: i) time that children spent at home due to the pandemic, ii) change in parent’s working hours during the pandemic and iii) presence of a partner in the household. We place particular interest in gender differences for these effects. We use unique data from the Familydemic Survey, conducted between June and September 2021, on a representative sample of 9,364 mothers and fathers living with at least one child aged less than 12 in six countries (Canada, Italy, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the US). We find evidence showing that WFH was positively related to perceived change in WLB among mothers and fathers, regardless of partnership status. However, the positive effect was weaker among those mothers whose child(ren) stayed at home due to childcare closures for longer than a month. The positive relationship among mothers disappeared if women increased their working hours during the pandemic. In addition, we found a negative relationship between WFH and WLB among fathers who increased their working hours during the pandemic. We also provide evidence that mothers (compared to fathers), parents whose children were out of childcare for six months or more (compared to other parents) and parents who increased their working hours (compared to other parents) were more likely to report worsened work-life balance during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Kurowska & Agnieszka Kasperska & Gayle Kaufman, 2023. "Work from home and perceived changes to work-life balance among mothers and fathers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Working Papers 2023-29, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
  • Handle: RePEc:war:wpaper:2023-29
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    File URL: https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/download_file/3603/0
    File Function: First version, 2023
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    remote work; work-life balance; childcare; working hours;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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