Teleworking and life satisfaction during COVID-19 : the importance of family structure

Claudia Senik, Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D’Ambrosio, Anthony Lepinteur, Carsten Schröder

We carry out a difference-in-differences analysis of a representative real-time survey conducted as part of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity reflecting genderrole asymmetry: lower life satisfaction is only found for unmarried men and women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies.

MoreLess

Year of publication:	November 2022
Authors:	Senik-Leygonie, Claudia ; Clark, Andrew E. ; D'Ambrosio, Conchita ; Lepinteur, Anthony ; Schröder, Carsten
Publisher:	Bonn, Germany : IZA - Institute of Labor Economics
Subject:	life satisfaction \| teleworking \| work from home \| gender \| childcare \| COVID-19 \| SOEP \| Telearbeit \| Telework \| Zufriedenheit \| Satisfaction \| Coronavirus \| Kinderbetreuung \| Child care \| Familie-Beruf \| Work-life balance \| Deutschland \| Germany \| Arbeitszufriedenheit \| Job satisfaction \| Lebensqualität \| Quality of life \| Familie \| Family