A new GLO Discussion Paper investigates the influence of the working from home attitude of occupations on the gender wage gap in Italy to find that the gap is greater among females working in an occupation with a high level of the home attitude.
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GLO Discussion Paper No. 771, 2021
Will it be a shecession? The unintended influence of working from home on the gender wage gap related to the COVID-19 pandemic – Download PDF
by Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio
GLO Fellows Luca Bonacini, Giovanni Gallo and Sergio Scicchitano
Luca Bonacini 
Giovanni Gallo 
Sergio Scicchitano
Author Abstract: Working from home (WFH) has become a key factor during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in countries that have implemented severe social distancing measures. This paper investigates the potential influence of the working from home attitude of occupations on the gender wage gap (GWG) reported by Italian employees, on average and along the distribution. Based on Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions and unconditional quantile regressions, our results show that the GWG is greater among females working in an occupation with a high level of WFH attitude, thus among those more likely to be affected by a (probably) persistent spread of WFH procedures after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we find evidence of both sticky floor and glass ceiling effects for employees with a high WFH attitude and only a sticky floor effect for the group with a low WFH attitude. The positive association revealed between the level of WFH attitude and the GWG appears particularly strong among older and married female employees, as well as among those working in the private sector. Finally, this study confirms that allocating adequate resources to programmes and instruments that aim to achieve genderrelated goals is strongly recommended.
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