Childcare and Labor Market Trajectories by Gender During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa

This article shows that the shock in demand for at-home childcare triggered by the COVID-19 lockdowns affected women’s paid work hours more negatively than men’s in South Africa. This result is consistent across two different methods – regression and sequence analysis – using a unique panel data set collected during the pandemic. Regression analysis of paid work hours shows that co-residing with children over lockdown was associated with a decline of about one to two hours of paid work for women, while there was no significant effect for men. Sequence analysis of employment statuses combined with different levels of childcare shows that the most common trajectory for women involved transitioning from employment to full-time childcare following the “hard” lockdown. In contrast, men’s most common trajectories all involved maintaining employment while varying their level of childcare. Policies aimed at alleviating the childcare burden could help support women’s continued participation in the labor market.