Couples’ division of work during Covid lockdown in Austria

The Covid-19 lockdown led to sweeping changes in families everyday lives in Austria. Because kindergartens and schools were closed for two months and grandparents, babysitters etc. could not provide support, families faced the unprecedented situation that childcare and home schooling had to be entirely provided by themselves. As a consequence, parents time with childcare skyrocketed and time with housework increased as well. The lockdown also had severe effects on employment. While employees in system-relevant occupations mostly continued to work on-site, many others started working from home. At the same time, short-time employment (Kurzarbeit) was strongly supported. During the lockdown, for instance, restaurants, hotels and most shops (except for groceries, pharmacies etc.) closed. The unemployment rate soared. Against this background, the project examines the following questions: How did couples redistribute family work (i.e. childcare and housework) during the lockdown? Which employment models have emerged, e.g. both in part-time/short-time employment? Who of the partners worked from home? Which arrangements regarding working time (evening/night, weekends) developed? We study in detail the roles of family situation and other factors for these questions. How partners have distributed care work and employment strongly depends on the age and number of children as well as on both partners income and level of education. As data sources, we use the Austrian microcensus and the Austrian Corona Panel. Preliminary results suggest that, on average, the division of labour in couples has become more traditional during the lockdown. However, at the same time, new, less traditional roles have emerged. This was for instance the case, when fathers worked from home in part-time and hence took over most of childcare while mothers worked in system-relevant occupations in full-time on-site.

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