School Restrictions during the COVID-19 Pandemic Reduced Women’s Labor Supply

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique context for understanding how parents balance labor supply and childcare when schools close. Although school restrictions in Germany left most workers unaffected, households with children of elementary school age redistributed their labor: Full-time employment among mothers who had only children of elementary school age fell by four to five percentage points during periods of restricted school operations, while fathers’ employment increased. Among married mothers working full-time, the decline was even more pronounced, at nearly eight percentage points. Ideally, all disadvantages faced by mothers in the labor market should be eliminated. Employers can actively address this by making it easier to balance full-time employment with childcare, for example through flexible work schedules, shift work, and working from home.