Gómez García, Marina

Hospido Quintana, Laura

Sanz Alonso, Carlos

English

Hospido, Laura

Sanz, Carlos

Repositorio Institucional de la Biblioteca del Banco de España

BANCO DE ESPAÑA 37 ECONOMIC BULLETIN 3/2021  QUARTERLY REPORT ON THE SPANISH ECONOMYOn data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (EPA by its Spanish initials) relating to 2019  Q4, 19.97  million people were employed in the Spanish economy prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: 10.81 million men and 9.16  million women. The unemployment rate for women stood 3.3 percentage points (pp) higher than that for men (15.5% vs 12.2%) and their labour market participation rate was 10.7 pp lower (53.5% vs 64.2%). Based on data provided by the EPA, this box documents the extent to which the COVID-19 crisis has had a differential impact by gender on the main variables describing developments in the Spanish labour market.1 To this end, the cumulative impacts to date (the latest EPA data relate to 2021 Q2) and their changes over time are quantified.As Chart  1 shows, up to 2021 Q2 the health crisis had triggered a sharper increase in the female unemployment rate (of 1.8 pp to 17.4%) than the male rate (of 1.2 pp to 13.4%), widening the female-male unemployment gap that existed prior to the onset of the pandemic. However, it should be noted that this widening, which was particularly marked between end-2019 and end-2020, has been narrowing slightly over the last two quarters. This differential performance across male and female unemployment rates also reflects highly diverse dynamics in terms of developments in employment, unemployment and participation by gender. For instance, in the initial quarters of the crisis the decline in employment and the labour force was considerably more pronounced among women than men (see Charts  2 and 3, respectively). However, since end-2020 women have registered more favourable changes than men in terms of both employment and labour force. This is particularly evident in labour market participation, with the 2021 Q2 figures for women already exceeding pre-pandemic levels both in the number of individuals and the labour force participation rate (see Chart 4). It is precisely the female labour force’s greater dynamism in recent quarters that largely explains: (i) this group’s above-mentioned poorer unemployment rate performance; and (ii) the fact that between 2019 Q4 and 2021  Q2 the number of unemployed women grew faster than that of men (13% vs 8.9%) (see Chart 5). The dynamics described in the above paragraphs allow us to assess, to some extent, the profound implications of the COVID-19 crisis for the Spanish labour market and how, in some cases, these have differed between men and women. However, a fuller picture of the pandemic-induced distortions in the Spanish labour market would also need to factor in the extraordinary impact on employment and on actual hours worked had by use of furlough schemes and the suspension of activity for the This	early-release	box	was	published	on	14	SeptemberBox	5THE	DIFFERENTIAL	IMPACT	BY	GENDER	OF	THE	COVID-19	CRISIS	ON	THE	SPANISH	LABOUR	MARKETMarina Gómez García, Laura Hospido Quintana and Carlos Sanz AlonsoSOURCE: EPA.0.00.51.01.52.02.53.02019 Q4 2020 Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2021 Q1 2021 Q2WOMEN MENChart 1CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: DIFFERENCE VS 2019 Q4pp1	 	For	a	similar	analysis	relating	to	the	euro	area	labour	market,	see	V.	Botelho	and	P.	Neves	(2021),	“The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the euro area labour market for men and women”,	Economic Bulletin,	4/2021,	European	Central	Bank.BANCO DE ESPAÑA 38 ECONOMIC BULLETIN 3/2021  QUARTERLY REPORT ON THE SPANISH ECONOMYBox	5THE	DIFFERENTIAL	IMPACT	BY	GENDER	OF	THE	COVID-19	CRISIS	ON	THE	SPANISH	LABOUR	MARKET	(cont’d)self-employed, and whether this has been heterogeneous across gender. In this connection, the evidence available suggests that both men and women have benefited very considerably from the relatively widespread use of the temporary employment retention programmes during this crisis. For instance, on average in 2020  Q2, women subject to pandemic-related job retention schemes accounted for 17.9% of all women registered with Social Security, while for men that percentage stood at 15.5%. Turning back to the EPA data, from 2020  Q2 the percentage of female employees working zero hours in a specific week owing to a partial halt in work for technical or economic reasons or being laid off2 has also been slightly higher than that of men (see Chart 6). As regards actual hours worked, Chart 7 shows that, when considering the median of the distribution of this variable for men and women, the fall was particularly steep for women in 2020 Q2. Since then, the number of hours actually worked has behaved somewhat more favourably for women than for men, although so far not well enough to close the gender gap in this variable that emerged after the outbreak of the pandemic. Considering the average number of hours worked by men and women (rather than the median of this variable, as in SOURCE: EPA.889092949698100102Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 2CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT2019 Q4 = 1009092949698100102Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 3CHANGE IN LABOUR FORCE2019 Q4 = 100-4.0-3.5-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.5-1.0-0.50.00.5Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 4CHANGE IN LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE: DIFFERENCE VS 2019 Q4pp9095100105110115120Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 5CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT2019 Q4 = 100WOMEN MEN2	 	This	indicator	may	be	considered	a	proxy	for	the	number	of	workers	in	job	retention	schemes	who	are	working	zero	hours.	See	M.	Izquierdo,	S.	Puente	and	A.	V.	Regil	 (2021),	“Furlough schemes in the COVID-19 crisis: an initial analysis of furloughed employees resuming work”,	Economic Bulletin, 2/2021,	Banco	de	España.BANCO DE ESPAÑA 39 ECONOMIC BULLETIN 3/2021  QUARTERLY REPORT ON THE SPANISH ECONOMYthe preceding paragraph), the two genders underwent a similar fall, of around 20%, between 2019 Q4 and 2020 Q2. The fact that during this period the hours worked by men have decreased much more in average terms than in median terms, while for women the fall has been virtually the same for these two metrics, is related to the differential impact of the COVID-19 crisis at the ends of the distributions of actual hours worked by these two groups.3 In this regard, considering the scale of the changes that have arisen at the ends of these distributions, in order to assess the impact of the crisis on the degree of worker vulnerability, it seems more appropriate to analyse the changes in hours worked in the central portion of these distributions, i.e. the median.Undoubtedly, the steeper decline for women in the number of hours worked during this crisis is in part linked to the asymmetric impact of the pandemic on the activity of the economy’s different productive sectors. Indeed, some of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and the Box	5THE	DIFFERENTIAL	IMPACT	BY	GENDER	OF	THE	COVID-19	CRISIS	ON	THE	SPANISH	LABOUR	MARKET	(cont’d)SOURCE: EPA.a Only reflects those respondents reporting zero hours worked due to a partial halt in work for technical and economic reasons or being laid off.0510152025Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102WOMEN MENChart 6PERCENTAGE OF EMPLOYEES WITH ZERO HOURS WORKED (a)%7580859095100105Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102WOMEN MENChart 7CHANGE IN ACTUAL HOURS WORKED (MEDIAN)2019 Q4 = 1005060708090100110Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 8CHANGE IN ACTUAL HOURS WORKED, SOCIAL INDUSTRIES (MEDIAN)2019 Q4 = 1005060708090100110Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2120202029102Chart 9CHANGE IN ACTUAL HOURS WORKED, OTHER SECTORS (MEDIAN)2019 Q4 = 100WOMEN MEN3	 	For	instance,	while	for	women	the	10th	percentile	of	hours	worked	per	week	fell	from	five	hours	in	2019	Q4	to	zero	in	2020	Q2,	for	men	the	fall	was	from	20	to	zero.	At	the	other	end	of	the	distribution,	for	women	the	90th	percentile	of	hours	worked	per	week	held	at	40	hours	throughout	the	period,	while	for	men	it	decreased	from	48	hours	in	2019	Q4	to	45	hours	in	2020	Q2.BANCO DE ESPAÑA 40 ECONOMIC BULLETIN 3/2021  QUARTERLY REPORT ON THE SPANISH ECONOMYBox	5THE	DIFFERENTIAL	IMPACT	BY	GENDER	OF	THE	COVID-19	CRISIS	ON	THE	SPANISH	LABOUR	MARKET	(cont’d)containment measures deployed have a notably high relative share of female employment.4 This is particularly true of hospitality, retail and arts and recreation services (i.e. the social industries),5 where the declines in the median total number of hours actually worked versus 2019 Q4 were especially sharp for women (see Charts 8 and 9).In sum, this box documents the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Spanish labour market and throws into relief some of the gender asymmetries observed in that impact. Specifically, in the first quarters of the crisis, the drop in employment, in labour force and in actual hours worked was sharper for women than for men. However, since end-2020, these variables have behaved somewhat more favourably for women. In any event, between 2019 Q4 and 2021 Q2, gender disparity increased in terms of the unemployment rate and actual hours worked, while it decreased in terms of the labour force participation rate.4	 	See	P.	Alvargonzález,	M.	Pidkuyko	and	E.	Villanueva	(2020),	“The financial position of the workers most affected by the pandemic: an analysis drawing on the Spanish Survey of Household Finances”,	Analytical	Articles,	Economic Bulletin, 3/2020,	Banco	de	España.5	 	The	social	industries	comprise	retail,	hospitality,	education,	arts	and	recreation	services,	other	service	activities,	households	as	employers	and	extra-territorial	organisations	and	bodies.	In	2019	Q4,	47.6%	of	employed	women	worked	in	social	industries,	compared	with	30.5%	of	men.

Box 5. The differential impact by gender of the COVID-19 crisis on the Spanish labour market

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Box 5. The differential impact by gender of the COVID-19 crisis on the Spanish labour market

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