The COVID-19 Crisis by Gender: The ‘Shecession’ and ‘Hecovery’ in the NYC Metropolitan Area
This is the second publication of the COVID Data Analysis series by NYC Opportunity’s Poverty Research Team. This series will explore the US Census Bureau’s Pulse Data to help assess COVID-19’s impact as the pandemic evolves.
As the economy remains weak due to the COVID-19 crisis, and the City works toward an equitable recovery, COVID shocks are proving to be particularly challenging for women. Although the devastating labor market impact of the pandemic did not at first seem to hit women harder than men in the New York City region, NYC Opportunity’s analysis of COVID data finds that the possibility of a “shecession” and “hecovery” are very real.
Job Loss Due to Decline in Business Conditions
The initial shock of sweeping job loss was similar for women and men, at least in the Greater New York City metropolitan area. However, the partial recovery in employment that began with Phase 1 of reopening benefited men more than women. As shown in Figure 1 above, 28.4 percent of men and 26.2 percent of women reported pandemic related job losses for the initial lockdown period. By July — the month when the city entered into Phase 4 of reopening and private childcare programs were allowed to open — job loss rates declined by 9.7 percentage points for men but only 5.6 percentage points for women. This translates into a 34 percent and 21 percent decline respectively for men and women (not shown). Similar patterns for men and women are found across race and ethnic categories (also not shown).
Job Disruptions Due to Closed Services of Child and Dependent Care
Figure 2 presents the share of adults who reported not working for pay in the previous 7 days in order to care for a child or elderly dependent. During the initial lockdown period, schools were closed and childcare service, whose availability was limited, was prioritized for workers in essential services such as health care and transit. Disruption in the availability of child and dependent care particularly hurt workers of color, less-educated workers, workers age 25–39, and low-income workers. Many workers in these vulnerable groups are less likely to have flexible work hours or the luxury of telework. Not surprisingly, those hard-hit demographic groups experienced the same or greater levels of job disruption due to childcare issues between April and July.
Another interesting pattern is apparent in Figure 2. There was a statistically significant increase in job disruptions due to childcare reported among whites, women, women age 29–35, and workers of middle income between April and July. That increase suggests that more families opted for mothers’ withdrawing from paid work while schools were closed.
Although the initial economic shock of COVID-19 did not seem to hit women harder than men in the New York City metropolitan area, job rebound has been weaker for women than for their male peers. Moreover, more women did not work between April and July, a time period in which schools and childcare centers were mostly closed, even as more men were reentering the workforce. Without steps to address the significant challenges posed by child and dependent care, there will likely be a long-lasting impact on future earnings for women workers and on the already-existing gender pay gap.
As we publish this blog, public schools are open in the city, but students are receiving in-person instruction only part of the school week. In addition, nearly half of city public school families are choosing home learning. The unequal burden of childcare and child safety during a pandemic has serious consequences for gender equity. Women are half of the city’s labor force, but many women cannot go to work if they do not have access to childcare. Acknowledging the need for childcare should be part of immediate and long-term economic recovery plans. A combination of flexibility in telework rules, continuing support for women who do not have a telework option, and expanded family leave time for all adults with child or other family care responsibilities can help workers to continue to work during the pandemic and ensure that we have a more equitable recovery. It can also lay the groundwork for future workplace equity.
The NYC Opportunity COVID Data Analysis Series
This series will continue to explore the Pulse data. In the current environment of persistently high unemployment, widespread income loss, and the absence of comprehensive stimulus benefits, it is important to monitor timely, detailed data. The Pulse data is one important tool that will help us to assess COVID-19’s impact as the pandemic evolves.
Material for this post was created by Jihyun Shin and Anne Hill. Contact: Jshin@opportunity.nyc.gov
For more information on the Pulse data, including future releases, and NYC Opportunity’s use of the data see the NYCOpportunity website.
The Poverty Research Team at NYC Opportunity is responsible for the development of the NYCgov Poverty Measure. The alternative NYC poverty measure, in comparison to the official U.S. measure of poverty.
The work has received nationwide attention and contributed to the development of the Federal Supplemental Poverty Measure.
https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html
