Care work and the demographic composition of households : two Asian cases

Who provides unpaid caregiving within the household is of economic and policy relevance. This paper examines how care activities are shared among household members, the extent to which women and men substitute for each other in care and work activities, and whether or not they realize economies of scale in care work. Mongolia and South Korea have nationally representative time-use survey data that allow an exploration of these questions. These two countries differ in their level of economic development and industrial structure, demographic profile, and household composition, providing a comparative perspective on the allocation of time to childcare, domestic work and market work within households. The maximum likelihood estimation results reveal significant evidence of substitution between men and women in childcare, but much less so in domestic work or indirect care, and economies of scale in the care of young children and in women's domestic work

Demographic, health, and economic transitions and the future care burden

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of infections and deaths worldwide, forced schools to suspend classes, workers to work from home, many to lose their livelihoods, and countless businesses to close. Throughout this crisis, families have had to protect, comfort and care for their children, their elderly and other members. While the pandemic has greatly intensified family care responsibilities for families, unpaid care work has been a primary activity of families even in normal times. This paper estimates the future global need for caregiving, and the burden of that need that typically falls on families, especially women. It takes into account projected demographic shifts, health transitions, and economic changes in order to obtain an aggregate picture of the care need relative to the potential supply of caregiving in low-, middle- and high-income countries. This extensive margin of the future care burden, however, does not capture the weight of that burden unless the quantity and quality of care time per caregiver are taken into account. Adjusting for care time given per caregiver, the paper incorporates data from time-use surveys, illustrating this intensive margin of the care burden in three countries that have very different family and economic contexts—Ghana, Mongolia, and South Korea. Time-use surveys typically do not provide time data for paid care services, so the estimates depend only on the time intensity of family care. With this caveat, the paper estimates that the care need in 2030 would require the equivalent of one-fifth to two-fifths of the paid labor force, assuming 40 weekly workhours. Using the projected 2030 mean wage for care and social service workers to estimate the hypothetical wage bill for these unpaid caregivers if they were paid, we obtain a value equivalent to 16 to 32 percent of GDP in the three countries

Time, Money, and Inequality

The advent of nationally-representative time-use surveys has generated a wave of new empirical research on time devoted to unpaid work and challenged traditional resistance to considering its impact on household living standards. Measurement and valuation of such work can generate estimates of “extended income” on the household level, with significant implications for assessment of income inequality. While few such estimates have been generated to date, this essay argues that they are conceptually desirable, empirically feasible, and politically important. A critical assessment of objections to the valuation of unpaid work provides support for this argument, which is further strengthened by a historical account of the social forces driving the expansion of modern time use surveys

Who cares and who shares? Caregiving in the household

This paper examines the magnitude of unpaid care work performed within households and how that work is shared among household members. Using nationally representative time-use survey data from three countries, we develop a time-use-based approach to examine the presence of economies of scale and economies of scope in family caregiving. Ghana, Mongolia, and South Korea differ with respect not only to their level of economic development but also to their average household size, demographic structure, and gender norms. Yet, controlling for household characteristics, there are striking similarities in the allocation of care work within households in these countries. We find significant evidence of substitution between men and women, particularly in childcare, as well as economies of scale in the care of young children by women in all three countries and by men in Mongolia and Korea. We also explore the evidence for economies of scope in household care work, but characteristic limitations of time-use survey data make it difficult to discern them clearly