The Summer Drop in Female Employment

Abstract

We provide the first systematic account of summer declines in women’s labor market activity. From May to July, the employment-to-population ratio among prime-age US women declines by 1.1 percentage points, whereas male employment rises; women’s total hours worked fall by 11 percent, twice the decline among men. School closures for summer break—and corresponding lapses in implicit childcare—provide a unifying explanation for these patterns. The summer drop in female employment aligns with cross-state differences in the timing of school closures, is concentrated among mothers with young school-age children, and coincides with increased time spent engaging in childcare. Decomposing the gender gap in summer work interruptions across job types defined by sector and occupation, we find large contributions from both gender differences in job allocation and gender differences within job types in the propensity to exit employment over the summer. Women’s summer work interruptions contribute to gender gaps in pay: women’s weekly earnings decline by 3.3 percent over the summer months, about five times the decline among men.

Keywords: gender gap, seasonality, labor force participation, childcare, time use, school closure

JEL Classification: J13, J16, J22, J24