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1. The Path Through: Early COVID-19 Job Loss and Labour Market Trajectories in Austria

Author:
Stefan Jestl and Maryna Tverdostup
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper examines the socio-demographic disparities evident in the early labour market response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria, relying on the register-based labour market career dataset from the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC) for the 2018-2021 period. The analysis focuses on the divergences in out-of-unemployment transitions and medium-term employment stability among those who lost their jobs early in the pandemic in contrast to the group of the longer-term unemployed. We document that individuals affected by job loss during the initial phases of the pandemic did not exhibit enduring scarring effects. Unlike their longer-term unemployed counterparts, they did not demonstrate persistent labour market detachment, prolonged periods of unemployment or a diminished success rate in re-employment. However, certain socio-demographic cohorts – notably, women, parents with two or more young children, and individuals with lower levels of education – faced disproportionate challenges during the pandemic. They were more inclined to transition into precarious employment arrangements and experienced lower levels of employment stability in the months following re-employment.
Topic:
Employment, Inequality, Unemployment, COVID-19, Labor Market, and Gender
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria

2. Gender Gaps in Employment, Wages, and Work Hours: Assessment of COVID-19 Implications

Author:
Maryna Tverdostup
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has highly asymmetric effects on labour market outcomes of men and women. In this paper, we empirically investigate the dynamics and drivers of gender gaps in employment rates, wages and workhours during the pandemic. Relying on Estonian Labour Force Survey data, we document that the pandemic has, if anything, reduced gender inequality in all three domains. Our results suggest that, while the evolution of inequalities mirrored the infection rate development – rising as infections mounted and declining as the first wave flattened – overall, the pandemic did not exacerbate gender gaps in 2020. The cyclical increases in gender disparities were largely driven by parenthood, as child-rearing women experienced a major decline in their employment rate and workhours, as well as gender segregation in the most affected industries. The higher propensity to work from home and better educational attainments of women deterred gender wage gap expansion, as wage returns to telework and education rose during the pandemic. Our results suggest no systematic expansion of gender gaps, but rather short-term fluctuations. However, labour market penalties for women with young children and women employed in those industries most affected by COVID-19 may last longer than the pandemic, threatening to widen gender inequality in the long run.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Employment, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus