• I analyze the effects of parental working from home (WFH) on division of care work • Identification relies on the pandemic WFH boost and occupational WFH feasibility • Fathers’ weekly WFH promotes a more gender-equal division of housework • Mainly driven by mothers reducing rather than by fathers increasing housework • I confirm changes in paternal gender role attitudes as a mechanism • No effects emerge for mothers’ WFH or concerning childcare division This study investigates whether (and how) working from home (WFH) affects the gender division of parental unpaid labor. I use the recent COVID-19 pandemic that brought an unanticipated yet lasting shift to WFH, combined with a measure of occupational WFH feasibility (Alipour et al. 2023) as a quasi-experiment to employ an instrumental variable (IV) approach and estimate causal effects. I use unique longitudinal data from the “Growing up in Germany” (AID:A) panel study, which administered a pre-pandemic wave in 2019, and a post-pandemic wave in 2023. AID:A contains rich information on mothers’ and fathers’ time use for work, commuting, childcare, and housework. I find that the most robust effects emerge for frequent (at least once a week) paternal WFH on parental division of housework: families in which fathers start weekly WFH in the period 2019 to 2023—due to their occupational WFH capacity in combination with the pandemic WFH-boost—experience a significant decrease in the maternal share of housework. Interestingly, this shift appears to be mainly driven by a reduction of maternal time use for housework (combined with an increase in her work hours) and less by an increase in paternal time use for housework, suggesting cross-parent effects of WFH. Further analysis confirms changes in paternal gender role attitudes as a plausible mechanism.

We study gender differences in vertical mismatch and their implications. First, we document facts about underemployment and overemployment and their relative wage penalties by gender, for the US between 1970 and 2022, as well as for a cross-section of US States. In 1970s and 1980s, the underemployment rate and their wage penalty relative to well-matched workers was higher for women. By 2022, both variables were higher for men. Second, we use the data to calibrate a neoclassical model of mismatch and find that frictions that generate mismatch have increased more for men during the last 50 years. Reducing these frictions to the level of women would have large effects in the participation rate of men, their wages, and in overall output. States where the underemployment rates and their wage penalty are higher for men, would see their output rise by 2%. • We document trends in mismatch, wage penalties, and employment by gender. • Men now face greater underemployment and larger associated wage penalties. • A calibrated model quantifies how mismatch frictions shape participation. • Reducing men’s frictions to women’s levels raises output by up to 0.7 percent.

Using online job board data, we study the key factors driving application decisions for unemployed and employed job seekers. We identify relevant job consideration sets using a network approach based on co-application patterns. We document how demographics and ad timing affect applications, finding evidence consistent with stock-flow matching for the unemployed. Furthermore, we show seekers respond strongly to misalignment in education, experience, wages, and location, generally applying where observable alignment is good, although employed seekers seem more ambitious, showing greater tolerance for underqualification in education and a tendency to apply for jobs above their declared wage expectations. Methodologically, we propose this network approach for defining consideration sets, helping address potential biases in standard market definitions. This evidence contributes to understanding search behavior and differences between seeker types.