Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.

The COVID-19 outbreak and the rise of remote work may have generated distinct labor market outcomes for workers, depending on their occupation and adaptability to changes in the mode of work. Using panel data of married spouses around the time of the government-mandated lockdown in Singapore and dif...

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Main Authors: Zeewan Lee, Poh Lin Tan, Jie-Sheng Tan-Soo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324113
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author Zeewan Lee
Poh Lin Tan
Jie-Sheng Tan-Soo
author_facet Zeewan Lee
Poh Lin Tan
Jie-Sheng Tan-Soo
author_sort Zeewan Lee
collection DOAJ
description The COVID-19 outbreak and the rise of remote work may have generated distinct labor market outcomes for workers, depending on their occupation and adaptability to changes in the mode of work. Using panel data of married spouses around the time of the government-mandated lockdown in Singapore and difference-in-differences models, we examine the effects of remote work arrangements on salary income, work hours, and wages. We find that the benefits of remote work during the pandemic were not distributed evenly across male and female spouses-translating into longer and significant gains in salary income only for male workers who adopted full remote work arrangements. In contrast, female remote workers' income gains were limited by disproportionately heavier household responsibilities (i.e., chores), which in turn led to constrained work hours.
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language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-d81f1e8494f54e508f0ecd77440d2b762025-08-20T01:52:56ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01205e032411310.1371/journal.pone.0324113Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.Zeewan LeePoh Lin TanJie-Sheng Tan-SooThe COVID-19 outbreak and the rise of remote work may have generated distinct labor market outcomes for workers, depending on their occupation and adaptability to changes in the mode of work. Using panel data of married spouses around the time of the government-mandated lockdown in Singapore and difference-in-differences models, we examine the effects of remote work arrangements on salary income, work hours, and wages. We find that the benefits of remote work during the pandemic were not distributed evenly across male and female spouses-translating into longer and significant gains in salary income only for male workers who adopted full remote work arrangements. In contrast, female remote workers' income gains were limited by disproportionately heavier household responsibilities (i.e., chores), which in turn led to constrained work hours.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324113
spellingShingle Zeewan Lee
Poh Lin Tan
Jie-Sheng Tan-Soo
Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
PLoS ONE
title Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
title_full Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
title_fullStr Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
title_full_unstemmed Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
title_short Unequal gains from remote work during COVID-19 between spouses: Evidence from longitudinal data in Singapore.
title_sort unequal gains from remote work during covid 19 between spouses evidence from longitudinal data in singapore
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324113
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