The Economic Value of Unpaid Housework

The study deals with the relations and trade-offs between gainful employment and housework and tries to evaluate the total of non-marketed goods and services produced by private households. A review of alternative methods suggests that results of such an evaluation may differ considerably. Valuing labour input at the contractual wage rate of household employees yields a value added of unpaid housework equivalent to 30–38 percent of GDP. Taking employment and housework together, the average work load of women in Austria is in all age-groups higher than that of men. While men spend relatively more time in their occupation, household work is carried out to 80 percent by women and 20 percent by men.