6.5 VALUING UNPAID CARE WORK TIME
6.5.4 The specialist method
R68.14 per day if the median is used, and R98.92 if the mean is used. Compared to the respective amounts of R41.27 (using the median) and R36.28 (using the mean) which are obtained if a wage rate for both domestic-type work and nursing-type work is applied to the total hours worked, without dividing it into the different types of work, it is clear that the proportionate approach arrives at a higher value for the work of caregivers within households. This is because nursing- type work has a higher earnings rate than domestic-type work and the combination of the two, and account is taken of the greater amount of time spent on nursing-type work as opposed to domestic-type work when the proportionate approach is used.
method. Code 3226 (‘physiotherapists and related professionals’) was initially selected for the task ‘rubbing/massaging’, but this occupational code does not occur in the September 2004 LFS.
Therefore the next closest code was selected for this care task: ‘nursing and midwifery professionals’ (code 2230).
In Table 6.13 can be seen a breakdown of the number of respondents in the LFS for each relevant occupation and the number undertaking these occupations. The mean and median earnings per hour for each occupational code are also shown. The preferred code for travelling to and from health facilities and waiting at health facilities is 5142 (companions and valets) but there are no respondents in the LFS who did this work and therefore code 9151 (messengers, package and luggage porters and deliverers) was chosen in its place. In some cases the number of LFS respondents was low, and these findings should therefore be treated with caution. However, as with the methods applied in the previous sections, despite the fact that these estimates are likely to be unreliable, a decision was taken to obtain a finding with caveats rather than none at all as part of an effort to be comprehensive in the approaches covered.
Table 6.13: Number of respondents and earnings assigned using the specialist method
Code Occupation n
(unweigh -ted)
N (weigh- ted)
Median hourly earnings
Mean hourly earnings 2230 Nursing & midwifery
professionals
3 962 26.70 24.56
3416 Buyers 12 7,596 14.24 11.98
5122 Cooks 27 8,684 5.72 6.64
9133 Hand launderers and pressers 4 662 6.57 9.50
9151 Messengers, package & luggage porters & deliverers
6 3,951 5.40 11.35
As with the generalist approach, with the specialist approach no sex disaggregation occurs. It can be seen that the highest mean and median wages are earned by nursing professionals. The
earnings rates for buyers are about half those of nursing professionals. The earnings rates for cooks, hand launderers and pressers, and ‘messengers’ are all quite similar, using the median and the mean.
Table 6.14: Proportion of time in minutes undertaking unpaid care work by profession (specialist method)
Ill person Nursing Buying Cooking Laundering Messenging
Yengwa 616.6 3.3 45.6 116.3 0.4
Sibiyo 334.8 0.0 40.0 69.4 22.8
Khubona 79.8 16.0 22.0 88.3 1.9
Luthuli 45.6 4.4 30.0 86.5 13.4
Mfeka 187.8 7.0 0.0 81.7 8.7
Mncube 180.0 6.0 30.0 86.6 33.6
Thwala 670.3 0.0 60.0 86.6 22.7
Cibane 288.6 2.0 30.0 86.4 246.1
Mngadi 488.0 0.0 16.0 95.1 84.3
Mbongeni 1,365.4 1.1 21.3 141.8 19.2
Ngidi-S 542.6 0.0 0.0 96.3 87.4
Ngidi-Z 396.1 0.0 0.0 96.3 25.4
Ndaba 1,195.0 0.8 2.1 88.1 15.3
Madondo 404.6 0.0 180.0 90.7 14.7
Shibe 79.9 0.7 0.0 111.3 0.0
Tembe 435.7 0.0 5.0 47.8 12.5
Dladla 312.4 0.0 0.0 87.3 27.1
Average (min) 448.4 2.4 28.4 91.6 37.4
Average (hrs) 7.5 0.0 0.5 1.5 0.6
% of total time 73.7 0.4 4.7 15.1 6.1
Table 6.14 shows the time spent per ill person on care activities defined according to the different professions. There is variation across ill people, but it is clear that the amount of time spent
undertaking the work of professional nurses is by far the greatest in terms of daily unpaid care work – about three-quarters of the total time spent on care activities. In two households the time spent on nursing work exceeds 19 hours per day. Apart from the work of nursing professionals, the time spent laundering is the next greatest (15 percent of the total time). In most households about one-and-a-half hours are spent undertaking laundering work for the ill person per day.
Time spent doing the work of cooks and messengers is approximately the same as a proportion of overall care time, and very little in all (around half an hour per type of specialist work). The work of buyers takes up the least amount of daily care time, a very minimal two minutes per day. Table 6.15 shows what the value of these different types of work would be if the median earnings rates shown in Table 6.14 are assigned to this care time.
Table 6.15: Median earnings assigned to daily unpaid care work time by profession (specialist method, Rands) Ill person Nursing Buying Cooking Laundering Messenging Total value Yengwa 274.39 0.78 4.35 12.73 0.04 292.29 Sibiyo 148.99 0.00 3.81 7.60 2.05 162.45 Khubona 35.51 3.80 2.10 9.67 0.17 51.25 Luthuli 20.29 1.04 2.86 9.47 1.21 34.87 Mfeka 83.57 1.66 0.00 8.95 0.78 94.96 Mncube 80.10 1.42 2.86 9.48 3.02 96.89 Thwala 298.28 0.00 5.72 9.48 2.04 315.53 Cibane 128.43 0.47 2.86 9.46 22.15 163.37 Mngadi 217.16 0.00 1.53 10.41 7.59 236.69 Mbongeni 607.60 0.26 2.03 15.53 1.73 627.15 Ngidi-S 241.46 0.00 0.00 10.54 7.87 259.87 Ngidi-Z 176.26 0.00 0.00 10.54 2.29 189.10 Ndaba 531.78 0.19 0.20 9.65 1.38 543.19 Madondo 180.05 0.00 17.16 9.93 1.32 208.46 Shibe 35.56 0.17 0.00 12.19 0.00 47.91 Tembe 193.89 0.00 0.48 5.23 1.13 200.72 Dladla 139.02 0.00 0.00 9.56 2.44 151.02 Average 199.55 0.58 2.70 10.03 3.36 216.22
If unpaid care work is valued in this way, the work of nursing professionals undertaken by caregivers comes to an average of R199.55 per day. In two cases the work of nursing
professionals would be valued at over R500 per day, which reflects the amount of time spent on this type of work but also the relatively high earnings rates when compared to the rates of pay for the other occupations listed here. The caregivers’ laundering work would be valued at R10.03 per day, while the other specialist work (messenging, cooking, and especially buying) would be valued at even lower levels due to the fact that, on average, only a minimal amount of this work is undertaken on a daily basis, and the rates of remuneration are not very high for these
occupations. The total average value of the care work is R216.22 per day if specialist median
earnings rates are assigned. Likewise, Table 6.16 shows what the value of these different types of work would be if mean earnings rates are assigned to the time spent in unpaid care work.
Table 6.16: Mean earnings assigned to daily unpaid care work time by profession (specialist method, Rands)
Ill person Nursing Buying Cooking Laundering Messenging Total value
Yengwa 252.39 0.66 6.87 18.41 0.08 278.41
Sibiyo 137.04 0.00 6.03 10.99 4.31 158.37
Khubona 32.66 3.19 3.31 13.98 0.36 53.51
Luthuli 18.67 0.88 4.52 13.70 2.53 40.29
Mfeka 76.87 1.40 0.00 12.94 1.65 92.85
Mncube 73.68 1.20 4.52 13.71 6.36 99.47
Thwala 274.38 0.00 9.04 13.71 4.29 301.42
Cibane 118.13 0.40 4.52 13.68 46.55 183.29
Mngadi 199.75 0.00 2.41 15.06 15.95 233.17
Mbongeni 558.90 0.22 3.21 22.45 3.63 588.42
Ngidi-S 222.10 0.00 0.00 15.25 16.53 253.88
Ngidi-Z 162.14 0.00 0.00 15.25 4.80 182.19
Ndaba 489.15 0.16 0.32 13.95 2.89 506.47
Madondo 165.62 0.00 27.12 14.36 2.78 209.88
Shibe 32.71 0.14 0.00 17.62 0.00 50.47
Tembe 178.35 0.00 0.75 7.57 2.36 189.03
Dladla 127.88 0.00 0.00 13.82 5.13 146.82
Average 183.55 0.49 4.27 14.50 7.07 209.88
Using mean earnings rates, the total average value of this work undertaken by the caregivers in the study is R209.88 per day. The work of nursing professionals is valued at an amount very close to this. The work of cooks, messengers and buyers that caregivers in the study undertook was not substantial and not frequently done, and it is relatively poorly paid and therefore its value is not great.