3.2 MEASURING UNPAID CARE WORK TIME
3.2.1 The System of National Accounts
Unpaid care work produces something without which the rest of the economy and society would not exist (Budlender et al., 2001). Throughout the world women are more likely than men to do unpaid care work. As Heintz (2007, p. 7) notes, “workers do not spring into existence, fully formed and ready to toil. Real economic resources go into producing human beings”. The economic inputs include both marketed and non-marketed goods and services. There are equivalents for many of these services in the market economy. For example, one can pay for a domestic worker to clean, for a nursemaid to look after a child (Budlender et al., 2001). These activities amount to production, since they can be delegated to a paid worker (Goldschmidt- Clermont, 1982), but they are not included in the calculation of GDP.
The SNA encompasses the rules that govern how countries should calculate figures in their national accounts so as to produce internationally comparable estimates. The SNA states that GDP should be based on the value of activities that fall within a certain ‘production boundary’
(Budlender, 2006). The 1993 SNA provides a comprehensive framework of accounts with common definitions and concepts to describe the economy of a country (Budlender et al., 2001).
The United Nations Statistical Division has developed an activity classification system for time use surveys as a response to the perception that existing classification systems were biased towards a first world situation. The United Nations classification system is organised according to ten broad categories that can be grouped according to how they are treated in the SNA, and therefore in the calculation of GDP. The categories are as follows:
SNA production activities
1. Work in establishments – for example, domestic work, looking for employment.
2. Primary production not for establishments – for example, growing vegetables on a household plot, collecting fuel and water.
3. Other production of goods and services not for establishments – for example, informal street trading, informal provision of hairdressing at home (Budlender et al., 2001).
Activity categories one to three fall inside the SNA production boundary, and would therefore be included in the national accounts and the GDP calculation. The only exceptions are the codes for looking for work and time spent on travelling related to SNA type activity. Collecting fuel and water are included under primary production not for establishments as these activities are officially part of the SNA – although probably not included in most countries (Budlender et al., 2001).
Non-SNA production activities
4. Household maintenance – for example, housework, household shopping.
5. Care of persons in the household – for example, looking after children or the elderly.
6. Community service to non-household members – for example, caring for non-household members, cooking for collective occasions (Budlender et al., 2001).
Activity categories four to six, which include unpaid care work, fall outside the SNA production boundary, although they are widely recognised as ‘productive’ activities, and correspond for the most part to unpaid labour. Activities in categories four to six are also referred to as ‘extended SNA work’ and as being part of the ‘extended’ production boundary (Budlender et al., 2001). In other words, unpaid care work is recognised as work that produces value, but it is not included within the SNA production boundary and is therefore excluded from the national accounts that underlie the GDP. According to Budlender (2006, p. 6), reasons given for this are that it “would be too complicated technically, would upset existing time series, and would produce estimates that are difficult to interpret”. However, while the SNA excludes the production of domestic and personal services by household members for consumption within the same household (Charmes, 2006), such activities are widely considered to be “the largest single item missing in national accounting” (Goldschmidt-Clermont, 1982, p. 3).
Budlender (2006) cautions that estimates and descriptions of production in a particular country could result in problematic policies if they do not take account of unpaid care work and its interactions with SNA production and with the general well-being of the population. The 1993 SNA makes provision for the investigation of concepts not specifically highlighted in the 1993 SNA through the notion of satellite accounts (Budlender et al., 2001). Time-use data are the building block for the information contained in such satellite accounts.
Goldschmidt-Clermont (1982) measured productive activities carried out by household members for consumption by their own household. In this thesis one such productive activity not accounted for in the national accounts will be measured, namely unpaid care work by household members for ill people within the household.
Non-productive activities
7. Learning – for example, attending school, attending work-related courses.
8. Social and cultural – for example, socializing with family or friends, participating in cultural and religious activities.
9. Mass media use – for example, watching television, visiting the library.
0. Personal care – for example, sleeping, washing and dressing oneself (Budlender et al., 2001).
The activity categories seven to 0 do not fall within the SNA production boundary, even when the extended boundary is considered. According to the United Nations (2005), an activity is said to be productive if its performance can be delegated to another person and yield the same results.
The SNA defines work and production as all activities that fulfil this third person criterion. For example, it is possible to hire someone else to clean the house, but it is not possible to hire someone else to learn for you. This activity fails the third person test and is not regarded as work or production (Budlender, 2006; Budlender et al., 2001).