COVID-19 and Gender Gap in Labor Market Recovery: Evidence From Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic-driven economic downturn can have substantial implications for the gender gap in the labor market in developing countries, where women are already worse off in job participation and earnings than men. After more than two years of the pandemic, how has the labor market reshaped in developing countries like Nigeria? Using multiple rounds of data before and after the pandemic and incorporating a difference-in-differences design, we show that overall employment dropped in the post-epidemic period in Nigeria. Importantly, overall employment fell more for women than men in Nigeria. Women in the high-COVID-intensity areas also experienced a larger shift from wage and service jobs to farm-based employment. It may aggravate women’s economic condition to the extent that the labor market returns in farming activities are lower than that of wage and service jobs.