The Great CEO Shecession: Evidence from 11 Million US Firms

Using new data on 11 million US firms with CEO gender information, we uncover a "CEO shecession" in terms of employment: female-led firms experienced significantly sharper excess employment declines than male-led firms during recession periods, specifically during the Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic. This finding remains robust even after controlling for the gender and age composition of workers, indicating that the results are not merely driven by the demographic makeup of the workforce. Furthermore, the "CEO shecession" exists across all industries, firm size categories, and states, suggesting that sectoral, size-dependent, or region-specific factors that might attract female CEOs cannot explain away our results. The observed CEO shecession indicates that female and male business leaders encounter dramatically different conditions and respond with distinct strategies during economic crises, inspiring further investigation to fully understand the dynamics.