Coronavirus Economic Fallout Disproportionally Affects Women and People Who Can’t Work Remotely, Cambridge Study Finds



Two surveys from March and April highlight the unequal impact of the coronavirus in the U.S. and U.K. — and ask respondents about their outlook for the near future. (It’s bleak, you’ve been warned.)



By Kam Kompani,

April 24, 2020

The research, which was led by economists from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Zurich, collected two waves of data – first in late March and then again in mid-April – from over 16,000 respondents in the U.K. and the United States.

Based on the second survey, 18% of Americans and 14% of Britons have so far lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, as anticipated, the researchers found that the outbreak has unevenly affected different types of jobs.

Ability to Work Remotely During Covid-19 Outbreak

In the U.S., workers who can perform all of their tasks from home were 33 percentage points less likely to have lost their job due to the coronavirus outbreak compared to workers who can’t perform any of their tasks remotely. The gap in the U.K. is a bit smaller: 23 percentage points.

Additionally, compared to those who cannot work remotely, Americans who can perform all of their tasks from home were 25 percentage points — 15 percentage points for Britons — less likely to have suffered a fall in earnings in March 2020.

“The percentage of people having lost their jobs varies substantially across the different occupations. We see that both in the U.S. and the U.K. people working in ‘food preparation and serving’ and ‘personal care and service’ are very likely to have lost their job due to pandemic,” the authors pointed out. “On the other side of the spectrum, people working in ‘computer and mathematical’ occupations or ‘architecture and engineering’ have been most likely to keep their job.”

Contract Type

Another deciding factor is the type of contract, as temporary and non-salaried workers were more likely to have lost their jobs.

In the U.S., employees with a permanent contract were 7 percentage points — 17 percentage points in the case of the U.K. — less likely to have lost their job relative to employees on temporary contracts. Salaried employees in the U.S. were 6 percentage points less likely to have lost their job relative to non-salaried employees.



Around 60% of Americans and Britons believe it is likely that some form of social distancing measure will be in place until the end of the summer.

Salaried employees in the U.S. (U.K.) were 13 (5) percentage points less likely to have seen their earnings fall between January-February and March 2020, compared to non-salaried employees.

Similarly, employees with fixed hour contracts in the U.S. (U.K.) have an 8 (13) percentage points lower likelihood of losing any of their earnings compared to workers whose work hours vary.

Gender Differences

The researchers showed that women in the U.S. (U.K.) were 7 (5) percentage points more likely to have lost their job compared to men.

The researchers also observed differences between men and women’s ability to work remotely: in the U.S. (U.K.), on average, women reported that they can complete 42% (41%) of their tasks from home, compared to 53% (46%) for men.

Sidebar: More Terrifying Evidence from the Canadian Case

In Canada, women aged 25 to 54 years lost more than twice the number of jobs (298,500) than men in the same age group (127,600) in March, according to Statistics Canada. “Nearly half of this decrease was among women working in part-time, particularly low-paying jobs in the service and care industries,” CTV reported.

Adding that: “What’s more, women of all ages accounted for two-thirds (63%) of total job losses in the country that month, despite making up less than half of the workforce. Even if they didn’t lose their jobs, 1.2 million women in Canada reported seeing at least half of their hours cut in March.”

Women are also disproportionally at risk in certain sectors. In Canada, women represent over 90% of nurses, 75% of respiratory therapists, and up to 90% of Personal Support Workers (PSW) caring for seniors in long-term care homes and home care.



Related Article: “Not Going to Have a Vaccine Before Summer of 2021”: 5 Key Takeaways From Columbia University’s Coronavirus Briefing

“The irony of this situation is that at the same time that women have greater responsibilities on them, they are at greater risk of being sick and getting ill, and also their families too, because then they go home, and they have that greater risk of passing it on to their families as well,” Andrea Gunraj, the vice-president of engagement for the Canadian Women’s Foundation, told CTV.

Back to the Study: ‘Individual Outlooks on the Future are Bleak’

On average, roughly a third of participants (37% in the U.S. and 32% in the U.K.) who still have a job believe that they will lose it within the next few months.

“Older workers and employees on more secure work arrangements perceive a lower chance of job loss, with the exception of workers on permanent contracts in the United States,” the researchers observed.

Adding that: “Surprisingly, women and those who report being able to do fewer tasks from home are more optimistic about their chance of keeping their job. This stands in contrast to the realized experience of these groups so far.”

All respondents, regardless of their current employment status, were asked about their ability to pay their usual bills and expenses in the future.

A disturbing 53% of Americans and 46% of Britons believe that they will struggle financially in the near future. “Indeed, 46% (38%) of individuals in the U.S. (U.K.) report that they have already had more difficulty meeting their usual bills and expenses compared to normal,” the researchers further found.

“The outlook on the future is bleak with many workers expecting to lose their jobs over the next few months. The results highlight the need for immediate policy responses that target those groups in the population that are most affected by the crisis,” the authors concluded.

Study Sample and Survey Design: Evaluating Economic Impact of Covid-19

Sample Size: In both the U.K. and U.S., the researchers collected two waves of data in late March and mid-April. The surveys were completed by over 8,000 participants from each country (around 4,000 people for each round).

Profile: Participants had to be residents of the country, be at least 18 years old, and engaged in paid work during the previous 12 months, either as an employee or self-employed. Within each country, the samples were selected to be representative of their region.

Survey Design: The surveys obtained information on the participants’ current employment situation; monthly earnings; expectations for the future; and background characteristics, including gender, age, highest level of education, marital status, and number of children below 18.



Study: Rauh, H. et al (2020). “Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock“. Cambridge.