The significance of occupations, family responsibilities, and gender for working from home: Lessons from COVID-19

Abstract

Before the pandemic, many employers were hesitant to offer their employees the option of working from home. However, remote working has been widely adopted during the pandemic as one of the key methods of controlling the spread of the virus. The measure encountered a widespread acceptance and it is likely that the demand for work from home as a flexible work arrangement will persist also after the pandemic has ended. Although numerous studies have addressed the role of remote work during this crisis, as of yet we lack thorough research jointly addressing the question on how occupations/job characteristics on the one hand and family/household responsibilities on the other are associated with the propensity of working from home, and how gender cuts across those aspects. Using the COVID-19 survey of the German Family Panel (pairfam), covering the peak of the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, together with information from pairfam panel waves conducted before the pandemic, as well as a special evaluation of the 2019 German Labor Force Survey, we are able to address this gap. Employing linear probability models on a sample of 1,414 men (N = 641) and women (N = 773), our results show that occupational traits, especially the gender composition of an occupation, are an important predictor for working from home. Women employed in female-dominated occupations are less often in a position to work from home. Furthermore, our study confirms that it is particularly the highly educated, as well as those who work in high-prestige occupations, who are able to work from home. Family configurations and care obligations are less influential upon the transition to homeworking, even in times of an unprecedented situation of school and daycare closures and increased parental responsibilities for children’s (early) education.

The impact of childcare centres' closures due to COVID-19 on women's labour supply

“…The adverse consequences of not being employed in jobs that could be performed remotely were reported by Borjas and Cassidy (2020), highlighting these effects on immigrants. Minkus et al (2022), using data from Germany's COVID-19 Survey, show that women were less likely to work from home, which is also related to the findings of Brugiavini et al (2022) that remote work feasibility was the most important determinant for women to keep their jobs.…”

“…We can see, therefore, that women with higher levels of education adapted more easily to the COVID-19 shock since there was no effect on their labour market outcomes in the year 2020. In particular, the possibility to work remotely tends to be larger in jobs that require higher levels of education (Minkus et al. , 2022).…”

“…We can see, therefore, that women with higher levels of education adapted more easily to the COVID-19 shock since there was no effect on their labour market outcomes in the year 2020. In particular, the possibility to work remotely tends to be larger in jobs that require higher levels of education (Minkus et al, 2022). The adverse consequences of not being employed in jobs that could be performed remotely were reported by Borjas and Cassidy (2020), highlighting these effects on immigrants.…”

Trade Union Members’ Experiences and Attitudes towards Working from Home during the Pandemic

“…. [t]he measure encountered a widespread acceptance and it is likely that the demand for work from home as a flexible work arrangement will persist also after the pandemic has ended" [4] (p. 1). This attitude change has been influenced by the performance gains that many companies accrued with the transition to WFH [5].…”

Opportunities for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic and child health in the United States: the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program

“…Research studies are needed to understand whether and how the social and economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or SARS-CoV-2 infection affected the health of children in the United States (US) ( 1 ). Environmental exposures, health behaviors, and health status during the pandemic may have implications for children's future health, especially if environmental exposures or health behaviors altered by the pandemic persist in the post-pandemic era (e.g., parent unemployment, shuttered community resources, new modes of physical activity) ( 2 – 4 ). Moreover, pandemic-related exposures (e.g., food insecurity, parent illness) occurring during developmentally sensitive periods ( 5 ) may have implications for health across the life course, even if the exposures are time-limited ( 6 ).…”