COVID-19 and labour market outcomes by gender in Finland

This paper presents evidence of the immediate labour market effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic by gender, using Finnish daily administrative data. We
document that employment reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic were more pronounced in female-dominated industries. However, other industries that
weathered the pandemic particularly well also have high proportions of female
employees, leading to an attenuated aggregate impact. We also document
substantial earnings losses among workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. These losses are relatively similar between genders. We do not find that earnings losses were more pronounced for women with children than for those without, indicating that childcare responsibilities did not exacerbate the costs of job losses during the pandemic.