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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–11–09
two papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Mimosa Distefano (London School of Economics, CEP, RFBerlin); Lorenzo Incoronato (University of Naples Federico II, CSEF, CESifo, RFBerlin); Anna Raute (Queen Mary University of London, CEPR, CESifo, RFBerlin) |
| Abstract: | Women often struggle to re-enter employment after career breaks, possibly because employers are uncertain about their productivity. We study whether hiring subsidies help firms overcome this uncertainty and hire from this group. Exploiting an Italian policy that temporarily cut payroll taxes for women hired from non-employment, we find that firms persistently hire more women with career breaks, including mothers, following subsidy adoption. Consistent with employer learning about target-group productivity, firms with better initial matches later hire more from this group. Subsidized workers also show stronger labor-market attachment. These findings suggest demand-side interventions can complement supply-side policies in addressing gender gaps. |
| Keywords: | gender employment gap, mothers, hiring subsidies, employer learning, firm hiring behavior. |
| JEL: | J16 J23 H25 D83 |
| Date: | 2026–09–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:796 |
| By: | Postepska, Agnieszka; Voloshyna, Anastasiia |
| Abstract: | Can remote work help close the gender gap in paid hours? Where a fixed workplace attaches a commute and a block of required presence to every working day, paid hours can be held below the level a worker would choose, and relaxing that constraint should raise hours most where it binds hardest. We examine whether women's paid hours and hourly wages change when they move to firms with greater remote-work intensity, linking Dutch payroll records for 2013-2025 to an enterprise survey recording the share of each firm's employees with remote access to its files or software. Dynamic difference-in-differences estimates compare workers moving from low- to high-intensity firms with workers who change employer but remain in the low-intensity band. A low-to-high move is associated with a 3.3 per cent increase in women's monthly paid hours. The estimate reaches 11.5 per cent among women initially working fewer than 20 hours per week, while women on longer schedules show little change in hours and, in some groups, higher hourly wages. Moves from high- to low-intensity firms are associated with lower paid hours for women. Co-resident partners' payroll outcomes change little. The concentration of the hours increase among short-hours women is consistent with remote work reducing constraints on paid work. |
| Keywords: | remote work, gender gap, working hours, part-time work, linked employer-employee data, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J31 J81 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1843 |