The School of Labor and Employment Relations welcomes Dr. Yana Rodgers (Rutgers University) as part of their speaker series on Nov. 16. 

The stay-at-home orders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic left many employees teleworking from home and increased the amount of unpaid care work within the home. Such disruptions have the potential to upend the gendered distribution of unpaid labor and influence job productivity and satisfaction, particularly for dual-career families.

To investigate the extent of change in the gendered distribution of unpaid labor and its impact on job productivity and satisfaction, Rodgers and her team measured self-reported and partner-perceived contributions to household labor before and during the pandemic among people in cohabiting, opposite-sex partnerships in the United States. They conducted a real-time survey in May 2020 that yielded a cross-sectional sample of 920 respondents.

Results from bivariate and multivariate analyses show that both men and women experienced an increase in the amount of unpaid work within the home during the pandemic relative to before, with women performing more. However, men reported participating in more labor related to the care of elderly and disabled family members compared to women. Regression results showed that as men took on a greater share of household labor, women reported a greater odds of being more productive in and satisfied with their paid jobs.

Please join using your Penn State Zoom account: https://psu.zoom.us/j/95256355505.