COVID-19 job loss and re-employment among partnered parents: Gender and educational variations

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the re-employment prospects and short-term career consequences for mothers and fathers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The pandemic recession has been dubbed a “shecession,” but few studies have explored whether mothers paid a higher or lower price upon labor market re-entry than fathers. Method: This study draws on March 2020–December 2022 Current Population Survey data and focuses on partnered parents with children under age 13 in the household. Exploiting four-month panels, we use multi-level discrete-time event history models to predict re-employment and linear regression models to predict job-level wage upon re-employment, while controlling for a wide array of factors. Results: Partnered fathers were more likely than partnered mothers to find re-employment during the pandemic. The gender gap in re-employment was concentrated only among parents without a bachelor's degree and persisted when all controls were held constant. Moreover, upon re-employment, fathers had higher job-level wages than mothers, which was consistent across educational levels. Even with the same job-level wage before labor market exit, mothers were penalized on re-entry relative to fathers and this penalty was rooted in gendered job segregation. Conclusion: This study extends previous research by analyzing re-employment and a critical material outcome for parents (i.e., job-level wage upon re-employment) during the entire pandemic, including the “new normal” (late 2022). The results reveal the intersectional inequalities in family and work: Compared to fathers, mothers, particularly less-educated mothers, paid a higher price for their time out of work during the pandemic.