Is Remote Work Compatible with Childrearing? -The Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Parents’ Well-being in Japan-

The global spread of COVID-19 led to the closure of educational institutions worldwide, placing significant stress on parents, particularly mothers, who assumed the dual roles of primary caregivers and educators for their children.This study aims to assess the impact of children's school closures on parental well-being, taking into account their working patterns.A longitudinal analysis was conducted using national representative data in Japan during the pandemic.This study takes advantage of the fact that the timing of school reopening varies from region to region, and examined the differences in the impact on parents with preschool-age children, elementary schoolage children, those with children of different ages, and those who did not have children.The findings indicated that, in areas where school closures continued, working mothers with preschoolers reported a statistically significant decrease in life satisfaction.Only mothers whose working hours were limited due to reduced business hours demonstrated an improvement in life satisfaction.Furthermore, parents with children of elementary school age and younger did not exhibit any improvement in life satisfaction by working remotely.This is likely due to the difficulty of simultaneously caring for children and working from home.The results indicate that when children are absent from school, parents should also be granted time off, rather than being required to work remotely.