[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113264-en":3,"doc-seo-113264-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113264,8796095462418,"Noah","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/80000253c1241d02b47?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778826106357471780",8,"Research & Report","Gender Differences in Informal Labor-Market Resilience - Article","This paper examines garment-making-firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital during the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on how gender shapes persistence in closure and business survival. By July 2020, 80% of both male- and female-owned firms were operating, yet pre-pandemic selection into persistent closure differs. Female non-survivors exit to non-employment with sharp earnings declines, while persistently closed male-owned firms compensate via alternative income-generating activities. Results align with differential occupational choice fundamentals by gender in this setting.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nThe World Bank Economic Review, 37(1), 2023, 112–126  \n[https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhac028](https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhac028)  \nArticle  \nGender Differences in Informal Labor-Market Resilience  \nMorgan Hardy, Erin Litzow, Jamie McCasland, and Gisella Kagy  \nAbstract  \nThis paper reports on the universe of garment-making-firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital during the COVID-19 crisis. By July 2020, 80 percent of both male-and female-owned firms were operational. However, pre-pandemic data show that selection into persistent closure differs by gender. Consistent with a “cleansing effect” of recessions and highlighting the presence of marginal female entrepreneurs, female-owned firms that remain closed past the spring lockdown are negatively selected on pre-pandemic sales. The pre-pandemic sales distributions of female survivors and non-survivors are significantly different from each other. Female owners of non-operational firms exit to non-employment and experience large decreases in overall earnings. In contrast, persistently closed male-owned firms are not selected on pre-pandemic firm characteristics. Instead, male nonsurvivors are 36 percentage points more likely than male survivors to have another income-generating activity prior to the crisis. Male owners of persistently closed firms fully compensate for revenue losses in their core businesses with earnings from these alternative income-generating activities. Taken together, the evidence is most consistent with differential underlying occupational choice fundamentals for self-employed men and women in this context.  \nJEL classification: D22, J16, J46, L26, O12  \nKeywords: informality, firms, gender, COVID-19  \nMorgan Hardy is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Social Science Division of New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; her email address [is morgan.hardy@nyu.edu. Erin Litzow is a PhD Candidate](is morgan.hardy@nyu.edu. Erin Litzow is a PhD Candidate) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; her email address is [erin.litzow@ubc.ca. Jamie McCasland](erin.litzow@ubc.ca. Jamie McCasland) (corresponding author) is an Assistant Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; her email address is jamie.mccasland@ubc.ca. Gisella Kagy is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, United States; [her email address is gikagy@vassar.edu. The authors](her email address is gikagy@vassar.edu. The authors)’ names are in certified random order. The study was funded by the Center for Innovative Data in Economics Research (CIDER) at the University of British Columbia, the Jobs and Opportunities Initiative (JOI) at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and the Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Initiative. Fieldwork received ethical approval from the University of British Columbia Research Ethics Committee (protocol \\#H20-01692) . The authors thank Abednego Abeka, Phanuel Akoeda, Eva Amewugah, Susanna Desouza, Alabotey Korboe, Christiana Moses, Ernest Nyaaba, Mavis Okpey, Bukari Dokurugu Salifu, Charles Sefenu, Kodimah Siita, and Eric Tawiah at Data Pivot Ghana for excellent project management and invaluable assistance in the design and implementation of the project. Charles Adjei Acheampong, Pulkit Aggarwal, Seongyoon Kim, and Akosua Takyiwaa Ofori provided excellent research assistance. All errors are the authors’ own. A supplementary online appendix is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website.  \n© The Author(s) 2022 . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ([http://creativecommons.org/](http://creativecommons.org/","cbCaivt5Fkn1MGKn","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivt5Fkn1MGKn","pdf",522536,1,15,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Labor-market volatility and gender gaps\n## Informality, self-employment, and firm performance","[{\"question\":\"How does the paper measure gender differences in informal labor-market resilience?\",\"answer\":\"It analyzes garment-making-firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital, comparing how male- and female-owned firms’ survival and persistent closure relate to pre-pandemic selection and outcomes during the COVID-19 period.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens to female owners whose firms do not remain operational?\",\"answer\":\"Female owners of non-operational firms exit to non-employment and experience large decreases in overall earnings.\"},{\"question\":\"How do persistently closed male-owned firms adjust during the crisis?\",\"answer\":\"Persistently closed male-owned firms are not selected on pre-pandemic firm characteristics; male non-survivors are more likely to have another income-generating activity, and they compensate for core-business revenue losses using earnings from these alternatives.\"}]",1784501980,38,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"gender-differences-in-informal-labor-market-resilience-article","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/gender-differences-in-informal-labor-market-resilience-article/113264/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"How does the paper measure gender differences in informal labor-market resilience?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"It analyzes garment-making-firm owners in a Ghanaian district capital, comparing how male- and female-owned firms’ survival and persistent closure relate to pre-pandemic selection and outcomes during the COVID-19 period.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What happens to female owners whose firms do not remain operational?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Female owners of non-operational firms exit to non-employment and experience large decreases in overall earnings.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How do persistently closed male-owned firms adjust during the crisis?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"Persistently closed male-owned firms are not selected on pre-pandemic firm characteristics; 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