The economic recession caused by covid-19 has again put gender equality under the spotlight. This article analyses the impact of the pandemic on hours actually worked by the occupied population using data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) from the second and third quarter of the years 2019 and 2020. The contraction of economic activity during lockdown and its subsequent partial recovery have led to an important fall in the employment rate in Spain, although this has occurred with greater intensity among men. Furthermore, among occupied people who worked in the quarters analysed, changes were observed in a dual sense with respect to the number of hours actually worked. Firstly, the number of people who worked less than usual has increased by 20%, fundamentally due to temporary lay-offs (ERTEs). Moreover, the number of occupied people who actually worked more hours has increased by 12%. These changes have led to a fall in the number of hours worked that is more pronounced among men than among women, giving rise to a reduction of 15.7% in the gender gap.

According to data from the EPA for a sample of men aged between 25 and 64 years, occupied full-time and not affected by lay-offs and who were living in households where both partners were occupied, in the second quarter of 2020 the number of hours actually worked decreased. This fall was more intense among men, given their greater relative presence in economic activities classified as non-essential. This reduced the gap between men and women in terms of hours worked. Upon the recovery of economic activity in the third quarter of 2020, the hours worked increased among both men and women, but without reaching previous values. When comparing the second and third quarter of 2020 with the same period of 2019 (periods that in this article are termed covid-19 and pre-covid, respectively), a descent in the number of hours worked is observed (0.34 among men and 0.13 among women) along with the consequent narrowing of the gender gap in hours worked, from 2.7 to 2.5 hours.

However, when household characteristics are taken into account, some differences are detected based on whether the occupied people concerned have children, and the age of any children. Although the reduction in hours actually worked is greater among men, among occupied people with small children (0-4 years and 5-9 years old) it is women who have experienced a greater reduction in hours worked. Thus, during the covid-19 period, the gender gap increased for this segment of the population. In contrast, the gap reduced among occupied people without children, as well as among occupied people with children aged over 10 years. This result would suggest that the pandemic has accentuated women’s role as the main people responsible for the care of small children.

In relation with the type of occupation, the number of hours worked increased for women in high-skilled jobs during the covid-19 period. This is highlighted, especially, in the case of skilled workers classed as blue collar (skilled agricultural workers, traditional craftspeople and skilled industry and construction walkers). This circumstance, together with the slight reduction in hours worked among the male group, has led to the gender gap being inverted in favour of women in these occupations.

By household typology, according to the presence of children and their ages, it is noticeable that, among occupied people without children and occupied people with children aged over 15, women in high-skilled blue-collar occupations worked even more hours than men during the pandemic. Among occupied people with children aged between 10 and 15, the gender gap practically disappeared during the pandemic, while among occupied people with children aged 0 to 9, the gap widened slightly.

Despite the generalised reduction in the number of hours actually worked during the covid-19 period, for women the hours actually worked in activities classified as essential by Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, increased. In contrast, for men the number of hours actually worked fell in both essential and non-essential activities. This result could be due to the greater presence of women in some essential activities such as the health sector (healthcare staff) or commerce (supermarkets, pharmacies and other commercial establishments classed as essential). Thus, the pandemic has led to the gender gap in hours actually worked becoming smaller in essential economic activities and, within these, especially among occupations with a low incidence of remote working (workers in catering and personal services, workers in the agricultural sector, craft workers, operators and elementary occupations). In contrast, within the non-essential activities, an increase –albeit slight– is observed in hours actually worked in occupations with a high incidence of remote working.

If attention is focused on occupied people with small children, an increase in the gender gap in hours actually worked during the covid-19 period is observed among those working in non-essential activities, although the gap hardly varies for those occupied in essential activities.

In the study conducted, for occupied people aged 25 to 64 years, not affected by temporary lay-offs and who were working full-time and lived in households where both partners were occupied, the descriptive analysis above was complemented with an econometric analysis. This focused on two sub-samples of workers with similar personal and job characteristics: one sub-sample for the covid-19 period and another for the pre-covid period. These sub-samples were taken for the purpose of comparing whether, once the specific characteristics of individuals were taken into account, the outbreak of the pandemic has had any effect on hours actually worked, and whether differential behaviours have arisen according to household characteristics. The results of this more detailed analysis corroborate that the fall in the number of hours actually worked caused by the pandemic has been greater among men than among women. Thus, the gender gap has decreased by 15.7%, passing from 5.3% in the second and third quarter of 2019 to 4.4% in the same period of 2020.

The reduction in the gender gap in hours actually worked following the outbreak of the pandemic has been generalised, but much more intense among occupied people without children. However, among occupied people with small children (0-4 years) the gap would not only continue to be higher but, furthermore, it would not have decreased during the covid-19 period due to the fact that, in these households, women reduced the number of hours actually worked to a greater extent than men. Moreover, when the economic activity of their employment is taken into account, it is observed that the presence of small children tends to accentuate the gender gap, except in economic activities considered essential.

The only case for which the gender gap has been inverted due to the pandemic was in skilled blue-collar occupations. But again, if they have small children, the difference between hours actually worked between women and men in these occupations exceeds three hours in favour of men. 

In short, the results point to a general reduction in the gender gap in hours actually worked as a consequence of the pandemic, except among occupied people with small children, for whom this reduction is not significant. The greater workload due to childcare tasks with small children among the female group that may have been caused by lockdown could be among the causes that have led to this result. However, the absence of information in the EPA on the distribution of tasks within households prevents any firm conclusion being drawn in this regard.

The medium-term effects of the pandemic on hours actually worked by women are still unknown. However, if these preliminary results were to be maintained in coming quarters, a greater deterioration of the position of women with children in the labour market as a consequence of the pandemic would be observed.

As for the main limitations for the study on which this article has been based, it should be mentioned that the EPA does not include information on the distribution of tasks within the household. Although the results obtained reflect a differential behaviour of the gender gap in hours actually worked among occupied people with small children during the pandemic, the data gathered do not enable any conclusion on whether this behaviour is the result of greater dedication to childcare tasks by women due to covid-19. Furthermore, the possibility of having access to longitudinal data would enable the analysis to be improved.

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