03.03.2021

Gender Equality in the Labour Market

Recent WIFO Research Brief on the Situation Before and During the COVID-19 Crisis

A recent WIFO Research Brief by Julia Bock-Schappelwein and Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger analyses the latest developments of women in the labour market and identifies options for measures to increase gender equality.

The results of the "Equality Index Labour Market", which was last updated just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic based on data from 2019, show in particular unused gender equality potential among women with children.

At the same time, there is evidence that care work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted from closed schools and Kindergartens, was often "picked up" by women. Moreover, recent labour market data show that women have been hit proportionately harder by the ongoing lockdowns, as evidenced by declining labour market participation, but also by relative increases in female unemployment.