THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: LABOUR MARKET IMPLICATIONS FOR YOUTH WOMEN.

The 2019 Coronavirus pandemic dramatically disrupted the workforce in early 2020, as a result of restrictions imposed to reduce the spread of the virus. The rapid decline in economic activity has resulted in massive and widespread job losses. According to the statistics of the International Labor Organization, the employment of women worldwide decreased by 4.2% in 2020 compared to 2019, much more pronounced than that of men by 3%. Younger women, especially, experienced a disproportionately higher share of employment losses. The decrease in female employment, together with the low participation of women in the labor market, represents a major setback for the efforts made in the last two decades to increase gender equality. The paper presents a brief analysis of the evolution of the main indicators of the female labor market, aged between 15-34, under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, at the level of the European Union and Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]