Essays on Inequalities in Labor and Health
Chapter 1. Using the Current Population Survey, 2020, this study examines the gender disparities in individual employment status during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the economic lockdown and social distancing measures, women may have been affected differently from men in the labor market. Applying person-level fixed effects difference-in-differences (DD) models, I found that the pandemic had heterogeneous negative impacts on employment across gender groups during the first two waves of the pandemic, with females experiencing 8 percentage-point larger decreases. However, the gender gaps in employment were primarily attributed to the types of occupations and industries that female workers were predominantly associated with, such as healthcare and service sectors. In addition, female and male workers were found to have lost employment opportunities proportionately across different occupational categories. Thus, the pandemic did not exacerbate pre-existing gender inequality in employment. Chapter 2. In this study, I used panel data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) 2020 to analyze changes in weekly work hours for both genders. Through person-level fixed effects models, I found that the COVID-19 pandemic had substantial negative impacts on work hours among employed individuals. Difference-in-differences (DD) estimates suggest that females sacrificed more in labor force participation than males during the pandemic, exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. Mothers, particularly those with children under age 5, experienced 0.6 and 1 additional hours of reduction compared to fathers. Triple-differences (DDD) estimates confirm that gender inequalities were most significant among parents with school-aged and younger children, while single parents faced greater disadvantages in labor force participation compared to married couples. These findings highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in additional childcare responsibilities, leading to adverse consequences and challenges for women relative to men. Chapter 3. The Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to improve health coverage for low-income population. However, unintended consequences are believed to relate to work effort. This paper aims to quantify the impact of the ACA Medicaid expansion on employment and hours worked among vulnerable communities who have benefitted from increased insurance coverages under the ACA. Focusing on eligible individuals from the American Community Survey (ACS), 2010-2019, I used difference-in-differences (DD) approach with propensity score-matched comparison groups to estimate pre- and post-ACA labor force participation differences between individuals living in states that participated in the ACA Medicaid expansions and those living in non-participating states. Results indicate that ACA was associated with slightly increased employment rates and decreased work hours for all vulnerable groups. However, full-time and part-time employments have shown opposite patterns. Specifically, part-time employees experienced higher employment rates and working hours due to the Medicaid expansion by about 10% and 0.2 hours per week, respectively, while full-time employees had similar to reduced employment rates and hours worked.
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