Short-time Work and Unemployment: Gender Differences in Labour Market Outcomes

Abstract: We analyze gender disparities in labor market outcomes of employees after unemployment and short-time work (STW) episodes using the German Socio-Economic Panel data (1992–2021). Our event-study approach compares career trajectories and unpaid care work before and after these two types of employment disruptions for men and women. Our preliminary results show that both genders face increased work disruptions postunemployment, leading to higher unemployment probabilities later. In contrast, epsiodes of STW do not affect employment stability afterwards, neither for men nor for women. Women experience slightly higher relative initial earnings reductions post-unemployment but less so after STW episodes. Taken together, our preliminary results show that employees experiencing short-time work episodes show more stable employment histories after the event than employees experiencing unemployment, and this pattern is similar for men and women.