Teleworking and Life Satisfaction during COVID-19: The Importance of Family Structure

Claudia Senik (1, 2, 3) , Andrew E. Clark (1, 2) , Conchita d'Ambrosio (4) , Anthony Lepinteur (4) , Carsten Schröder (5)

1 PSE - Paris School of Economics
2 PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques
3 SU - Sorbonne Université
4 Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg
5 DIW Berlin - Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung

We carry out a difference-indifferences analysis of a representative real-time survey conducted as part of the German SocioEconomic Panel (SOEP) study and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity reflecting genderrole asymmetry: lower life satisfaction is only found for unmarried men and women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies.

Mots clés: Life Satisfaction; Teleworking; Work from Home; Gender; Childcare; COVID-19; SOEP

Domaines: Economies et finances

Claudia Senik, Andrew E. Clark, Conchita d'Ambrosio, Anthony Lepinteur, Carsten Schröder. Teleworking and Life Satisfaction during COVID-19: The Importance of Family Structure. 2022. ⟨halshs-03855653⟩