The gender wage gap and Covid-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 lockdown affected both the global and local economies and led to wage loss and wage inequality. This study explains traditional wage differences between women and men and examines the impact of the Covid-19 on women’s and men’s wages and working hours during the initial stages of the pandemic. The study uses differences-in-differences estimation. Yearly and monthly panel data from Statistic Norway, hours worked, earnings and wages of women and men are compared. My findings suggest that while there in 2020 was a negative and unsignificant impact on women’s wages, the analysis shows that 2019 also had a negative effect on women’s wages but it is significant. Therefore, covid-19 did not affect wage inequality between women and men in Norway. My research findings explains that factors like different participation rates in work industries for men and women may be an important explanation on the gender wage gap between women and men in Norway. As expected Covid-19 affected working hours. In April 2020 both men and women decreased weekly working hours. women still worked less than men, but the reduction was smaller for women than men after the covid-19 lockdown. In addition, I did not find any negative effect on either mother’s or father’s wages in 2020.

Keywords: Wage gender inequality, Covid-19, Difference-in-difference, Labor market