Remote Work and Women's Labor Supply: The New Gender Division at Home

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Di Filippo, Isabella, Escobar, Bruno, Facal, Juan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Di Filippo, Isabella
Escobar, Bruno
Facal, Juan
author_facet Di Filippo, Isabella
Escobar, Bruno
Facal, Juan
contents We study how increases in remote work opportunities for men affect their spouses' labor supply. Exploiting variation in the change in work-from-home (WFH) exposure across occupations before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, we find that increases in men's WFH exposure led to sizable improvements in their wives' labor-market outcomes: annual employment rose by roughly 2.5 percentage points (from a 69% pre-treatment mean), earnings increased by about 5%, weekly hours worked rose by roughly half an hour, weeks worked increased by about 1.3%, and the likelihood of part-time work declined by approximately 9%. Evidence from time-use diaries and childcare questionnaires suggests these effects are driven by intra-household reallocation of child-caring time: women are less likely to engage in primary childcare activities, while men working at home partially compensate by covering more for their spouse. These results highlight the role of households in shaping the labor market consequences of remote work.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_08184
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Remote Work and Women's Labor Supply: The New Gender Division at Home
Di Filippo, Isabella
Escobar, Bruno
Facal, Juan
General Economics
Economics
We study how increases in remote work opportunities for men affect their spouses' labor supply. Exploiting variation in the change in work-from-home (WFH) exposure across occupations before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, we find that increases in men's WFH exposure led to sizable improvements in their wives' labor-market outcomes: annual employment rose by roughly 2.5 percentage points (from a 69% pre-treatment mean), earnings increased by about 5%, weekly hours worked rose by roughly half an hour, weeks worked increased by about 1.3%, and the likelihood of part-time work declined by approximately 9%. Evidence from time-use diaries and childcare questionnaires suggests these effects are driven by intra-household reallocation of child-caring time: women are less likely to engage in primary childcare activities, while men working at home partially compensate by covering more for their spouse. These results highlight the role of households in shaping the labor market consequences of remote work.
title Remote Work and Women's Labor Supply: The New Gender Division at Home
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08184