engleski

Gender differences in job loss among older workers following the outbreak of COVID-19

In this study, we investigate gender differences in job loss among older workers (age 50+) following the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our aim is twofold: first, to examine whether and to what extent employment histories and job characteristics explain the effect of gender on COVID-19-related job loss and, second, to look into the role of country- specific factors in shaping the gender gradient. We use data from SHARE Corona 1 survey, SHARE waves 7 and 8, and data generated from Job Episodes Panel. The dependent variable in our empirical analysis is COVID-19-related job loss. The main individual-level independent variable is gender. We use a set of variables to describe respondents’ employment histories, working status prior to the pandemic and last-job characteristics. We first consider summary statistics of the SHARE data sample to look for possible gender differences in the study variables and we descriptively assess the role of the country- specific context. We then compare estimates from a series of binary logistic regression models and use a method developed by Karlson, Holm and Breen (the KHB method) to decompose differences in gender coefficients across models. The results show that employment histories characterized by more part-time work and lower occupational status throughout the life course partly explain higher rates of COVID-19- related job loss among women. On the other hand, the effect of gender on job loss becomes even stronger once job characteristics (e.g. job industry and job title) are controlled for, indicating that among men and women with jobs of equal characteristics prior to the pandemic, women were more likely to become unemployed, be laid off or have a business closed due to COVID-19. The analysis of country-level indicators reveals that the effect of gender on job loss varies across SHARE countries depending on how long a country was under strict epidemic control measures.

gender differences ; job loss ; COVID-19 ; employment histories and work characteristics ; country context ; SHARE

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