ABSTRACT

This paper provides a timely evaluation of whether the main COVID-19 lockdown policies – remote work, short-time work and closure of schools and childcare – have an immediate effect on the German population in terms of changes in satisfaction with work and family life. Relying on individual level panel data collected before and during the lockdown, we examine (1) how family satisfaction and work satisfaction of individuals have changed over the lockdown period, and (2) how lockdown-driven changes in the labour market situation (i.e. working remotely and being sent on short-time work) have affected satisfactions. We apply first-difference regressions for mothers, fathers, and persons without children. Our results show a general decrease in family satisfaction. We also find an overall decline in work satisfaction which is most pronounced for mothers and those without children who have to switch to short-time work. In contrast, fathers' well-being is less affected negatively and their family satisfaction even increased after changing to short-time work. We conclude that while the lockdown circumstances generally have a negative effect on the satisfaction with work and family of individuals in Germany, effects differ between childless persons, mothers, and fathers with the latter being least negatively affected.

抽象的

本文就主要COVID-19锁定政策（远程工作，短期工作以及学校和儿童保育的关闭）是否对工作和家庭生活满意度的变化是否立即对德国人口产生了即时影响进行了评估。根据锁定之前和锁定期间收集的个人级别面板数据，我们研究（1）在锁定期间个人的家庭满意度和工作满意度如何变化，以及（2）劳动力市场形势（即工作）中锁定驱动的变化如何远程工作和被派去做短时间工作）影响了满意度。我们对母亲，父亲和没有孩子的人应用一阶回归。我们的结果表明，家庭满意度普遍下降。我们还发现工作满意度总体下降，这对于母亲和那些没有孩子的不得不转向短期工作的人最为明显。相比之下，父亲的福祉受到的负面影响较小，在转为短期工作后，他们的家庭满意度甚至得到提高。我们得出的结论是，虽然锁定环境通常会对德国的工作和个人家庭满意度产生负面影响，但无子女者，母亲和父亲之间的影响却有所不同，后者受到的负面影响最小。