Table 6.
Differences in predicted hours on weekday workdays for men and women in dual-earner couples with no children under age 18 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Paid Work | Household Production | Total Work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Estimates from Eq. 1, N = 2465 | |||
| Pre-COVID | |||
| WAFH: Women – Men | −0.29** (0.13) | 0.39*** (0.07) | 0.08 (0.13) |
| WFH: Women – Men | −0.39 (0.50) | 0.40 (0.26) | 0.21 (0.46) |
| Men: WFH – WAFH | −0.95** (0.37) | 0.41** (0.19) | −0.38 (0.30) |
| Women: WFH – WAFH | −0.95*** (0.32) | 0.42** (0.19) | −0.25 (0.34) |
| Women – Men | 0.00 (0.47) | 0.01 (0.26) | 0.12 (0.46) |
| COVID | |||
| WAFH: Women – Men | −0.08 (0.21) | 0.35*** (0.11) | 0.25 (0.21) |
| WFH: Women – Men | −0.27 (0.45) | 0.50** (0.25) | 0.17 (0.44) |
| Men: WFH – WAFH | −0.64 (0.39) | 0.69*** (0.17) | 0.11 (0.37) |
| Women: WFH – WAFH | −0.82** (0.34) | 0.84*** (0.21) | 0.03 (0.33) |
| Women – Men | −0.18 (0.49) | 0.15 (0.25) | −0.08 (0.50) |
| COVID minus pre-COVID | |||
| WAFH: Women – Men | 0.21 (0.24) | −0.04 (0.13) | 0.16 (0.24) |
| WFH: Women – Men | 0.02 (0.60) | 0.10 (0.33) | −0.04 (0.61) |
| Men: WFH – WAFH | 0.31 (0.44) | 0.28 (0.23) | 0.49 (0.42) |
| Women: WFH – WAFH | 0.13 (0.46) | 0.42 (0.27) | 0.29 (0.46) |
| Women – Men | −0.18 (0.62) | 0.14 (0.32) | −0.20 (0.64) |
| B. Estimates from Eq. 2, N = 611 | |||
| One partner WFH | |||
| Men | −1.30 (0.84) | 1.82*** (0.36) | 0.23 (0.80) |
| Women | −1.46** (0.64) | 1.30*** (0.40) | −0.06 (0.55) |
| Women – Men | −0.16 (1.01) | −0.51 (0.50) | −0.29 (0.96) |
| Both partners WFH | |||
| Men | −0.53 (0.46) | 0.90*** (0.31) | 0.52 (0.52) |
| Women | 0.10 (0.62) | 0.35 (0.34) | 0.57 (0.65) |
| Women – Men | 0.63 (0.65) | −0.55 (0.35) | 0.04 (0.73) |
| Both – One WFH | |||
| Men | 0.77 (0.86) | −0.92** (0.38) | 0.29 (0.82) |
| Women | 1.56* (0.83) | −0.95** (0.49) | 0.63 (0.79) |
| Percent non-zeros values | |||
| Men | 100% | 77% | 100% |
| Women | 100% | 92% | 100% |
The Pre-COVID sample includes diaries between January 2015 and February 2020, while the COVID sample includes diaries between May 10, 2020 and December 2021. ATUS final weights reweighted separately for equal-day-of-the-week representation by gender for our sample are used. Standard errors are generated using ATUS replicate weights. WFH is defined as working from home at least 1 h on the diary day for the respondent. Partner WFH is based on the predicted probability of working from home. Time-use predictions are based on setting partner WFH = 0.75 for WFH and = 0 for WAFH. In the pandemic period, we include indicators for each month of the pandemic instead of year and month indicators. Differences for one partner and both partners WFH are relative to both partners working away from home. See Table 2 for other control variables. Significance levels: *p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01. For percent of non-zero values: Bold = significant diff by gender at the 5% level. Source: Authors’ calculations based on the American Time Use Survey and Current Population Survey COVID-19 data