The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mothers’ Working Hours in Iran’s Labor Market: A Study on Labor Force Participation

Akbari, Farina

doi:10.22059/jte.2025.388410.1008986

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mothers’ Working Hours in Iran’s Labor Market: A Study on Labor Force Participation

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Farina Akbari

Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jte.2025.388410.1008986

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound, gender-differentiated impacts on labor markets worldwide, with mothers among the most affected groups. Given the central role of women in caregiving, understanding how their working hours were influenced by the pandemic is particularly crucial for developing countries such as Iran. This study investigates the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on mothers’ working hours in Iran using panel data from the Iranian Labor Force Survey conducted by the Statistical Center of Iran between 2015 and 2020. The dataset covers employment characteristics of both urban and rural households and includes information on employed and unemployed individuals. To identify causal effects, we employed Difference-in-Differences (DiD) and Triple-Differences (DDD) estimation strategies. The results indicate that in urban areas, mothers with children aged 6 to 17 experienced the largest relative decline in working hours compared with men during the first summer following the outbreak. Although this gap narrowed toward the end of the year, it remained statistically significant. In rural areas, a decline in mothers’ working hours was observed beginning in spring 2020 and persisted through the end of that year. Moreover, in households with two employed parents—where childcare responsibilities were likely shared—the reduction in mothers’ working hours was more pronounced relative to men. These findings underscore the persistent and unequal labor market consequences of the pandemic for mothers.

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Main Subjects

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