Unemployment and COVID-19 in OECD Countries: Does the Gender of Head of State Matter?

Abstract

This paper analyses the differences in the COVID-19 situation and resulting unemployment growth in OECD countries with male and female heads of state. Our sample period covers three waves of COVID-19. We have performed the wavelet analysis to evaluate the unemployment movement and the effect of daily new cases per million and daily deaths per million. The results of continuous wavelet transform have shown a significant variation in unemployment in countries with a male head of state, as compared to countries with a female head of state. Wavelet Transform Coherence analysis shows that daily deaths per million are positively associated with the unemployment growth at the beginning of the pandemic. However, a marginal association between these variables is observed in the countries with a female head of state during August 2020. Apart from this period, unemployment growth remains unaffected at the start of the pandemic, unlike in countries with a male head of state. These results insinuate that countries with female heads of state showed a relatively better performance in terms of managing COVID-19 and its effects on unemployment.

Keywords: COVID19, Unemployment, Wavelet Analysis, Leadership, Gender

JEL Classification: C50