The Impact of COVID-19 on Care Work and Paid Work in the United States
Date
2022Metadata
[+] Show full item recordAbstract
Informed by disaster literature, the current study offers a quantitative, social structural analysis that reveals the inadequacy of the market to provide care during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2021. This thesis focuses specifically on the impact that the COVID-19 Pandemic has had on both unpaid care work and paid work in the United States across gender, race, ethnicity, education, and age categories. This study seeks to address the following question: Which demographic factors significantly impact paid work and care work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States?
Participants in the current study (N=2,848) completed questions in the Household Pulse Survey regarding both paid work and unpaid care work and identified their gender, age, education, and race and ethnicity. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine the likelihood of the demographic variables impacting responses to questions regarding paid and care work. It was found that female participants, Black participants, and younger participants in the sample were more likely to indicate a care work related reason for not working for pay or profit during the COVID-19 Pandemic than male participants, white participants, and older participants respectively. Female participants were significantly less likely to report using unpaid leave, paid leave, cutting hours, losing a job, and supervising children while working remotely than male participants. Black participants were more likely than white participants to report losing a job due to care work responsibilities. Asian and Black participants were less likely to report supervising children while working remotely than white respondents. Those with an associate’s degree or below were more likely to take unpaid leave and lose a job and were less likely to use paid leave, cut hours, not look for a job, and supervise children on the job compared to those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Younger participants were more likely to report taking unpaid leave, cutting hours, losing a job, leaving a job, and not looking for a job compared to older participants.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Review of the literature -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion
Degree
M.A. (Master of Arts)