During the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures placed considerable strain on families in many countries. A new study examining the effects of remote schooling on the Swedish labour market has found that temporary distance learning led neither to systematic job losses nor to significant reductions in earnings. The researchers also found no evidence that mothers were disproportionately affected. The study, which offers valuable insights for the debate in Germany, was led by economist Christoph Kronenberg, PhD from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). Funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), it has now been published in the prestigious Journal of Labor Economics.

For their analysis, Dr Christoph Kronenberg, Prof Martin Karlsson (also from UDE) and a Swedish colleague examined the nationwide switch to remote learning for older students in spring 2020, as well as local periods of distance learning in primary schools. To do so, they compiled an exceptional dataset. “For more than two-thirds of Swedish municipalities, we documented whether teaching took place in person or remotely, broken down by day and school grade,” explains lead author Kronenberg. The researchers then linked these data to Swedish administrative records on the parents of the affected children.

The findings show that remote schooling did not cause parents in Sweden to leave their jobs. Employment remained stable overall, while any effects on earnings were small and temporary. “The setbacks in gender equality observed in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom did not occur in Sweden,” says Kronenberg.

The study also offers important insights for Germany. While schools in Germany remained closed for months in some cases, Sweden largely kept its schools open, allowing parents to continue working. Germany relied more heavily on school closures, potentially resulting in higher economic costs. Sweden also benefited from well-developed digital infrastructure in schools and workplaces, which made the transition to remote learning considerably easier. According to recent research, remote schooling in Sweden has not led to measurable learning losses either.

“The real question, therefore, is not whether teaching temporarily moves online, but how well a country is prepared for it,” Kronenberg emphasises. Childcare provision, digital infrastructure and social protection are crucial in determining how severely families and the labour market are affected.