Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labor Market Outcomes of Women with Children in Mexico

This paper estimates the effects of having children at home on the labor market outcomes of women in Mexico during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that women with children at home experienced some additional negative impacts on their labor supply immediately after school and daycare closures, compared to women without children. However, such impacts began to revert in the third quarter of 2020. One year after the onset of the pandemic, women with children increased their labor supply relatively more than women without them, despite ongoing school closures, suggesting a dominance of a negative income effect. Effects by the age of children are consistent with the reopening of daycare centers in 2020 not schools. We also find suggestive evidence that, for women employed both before and one year into the pandemic, having children at home induces industry changes and slightly decreases their job formality.