The attachment of adult women to the Italian labour market in the shadow of COVID-19

TL;DR

This study examines how COVID-19 affected Italian women in their 30s with children, revealing significant and lasting declines in employment and activity, especially among women in northern Italy, influenced by regional socio-cultural factors.

Contribution

It provides new insights into gender-specific labor market impacts of COVID-19 in Italy, highlighting regional socio-cultural influences on women's employment trajectories.

Findings

Large decline in female employment and activity in northern Italy during 2020.

Persistent gender disparities in labor market attachment post-pandemic.

Regional socio-cultural factors influence women's labor market responses.

Abstract

We investigate the attachment to the labour market of women in their 30s, who are combining career and family choices, through their reactions to an exogenous, and potentially symmetric shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that in Italy a large number of females with small children, living in the North, left permanent (and temporary) employment and became inactive in 2020. Despite the short period of observation after the burst of the pandemic, the identified impacts appear large and persistent, particularly with respect to the males of the same age. We argue that this evidence is ascribable to specific regional socio-cultural factors, which foreshadow a potential long-term detrimental impact on female labour force participation.