Ayatullah Talaat
Unpaid care work refers to work - performed without expectation of pay or profit - that is oriented to meeting people’s physical, psychological, cognitive, and emotional needs. It sustains individual health and wellbeing and is essential to the functioning of societies everywhere.
Most unpaid care work occurs as own use provision of services (also termed unpaid domestic and care work). It is intra-household and/or intra-familial, undertaken by and for members of the same household or by and for relatives living elsewhere. Not all unpaid care work takes place within household or kin networks. A significant volume is also provided within wider communities or networks, via direct- or organisation-based volunteering.
In recent years, the measurement of unpaid care work has been accorded new priority in official statistics. This has occurred as part of a wider revitalisation of interest in the topic in national and international policy circles. There is growing acknowledgement of the economic contribution of unpaid care work, which, based on conservative estimates, would amount to nine per cent of global GDP4 were it accorded monetary value. Similarly, there is growing recognition of the untenability of a status quo whereby, globally, women and girls contribute over three quarters (76.2 per cent) 6 of the total hours spent daily on unpaid care work, to the detriment of labour force participation,
access to formal employment and decent work, and involvement in the wider public sphere.
Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have mandated countries to produce statistics on the “proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location” (SDG indicator 5.4.1). This indicator, however, does not provide a complete measure of unpaid care work done by men and women in society because it covers only work done for own household/family members. While the
SDGs recognise the volunteer work’s central role in the realisation of the wider 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda7, no dedicated indicator to measure its contribution was established. To ensure that no care work is left behind, the ILO recommends complementing SDG indicator 5.4.1 with estimates of time spent on volunteer care work produced using dedicated methodology and tools.
Nationally, data on unpaid care work has relevance for a wide range of public policy areas, especially when collected alongside data on labour force participation and employment. Such data provide for a much fuller treatment of gender-based differences and inequities. They permit a fuller analysis of the contribution of unpaid work to national economies, alongside improved monitoring of transitions in the social organization of care work, from unpaid- to market-based provision (or vice versa). Current international standards for labour statistics provide a strong conceptual framework for the measurement of unpaid care work, and volunteer work more broadly8, in labour force surveys. This course will explain and operationalise the current guidelines for the measurement of unpaid care work and volunteer work, and will demonstrate available methods, tools, and practical resources. The ILO Department of Statistics, in collaboration with the ITCILO, is proud to offer the online course “Measuring Unpaid Care Work in Labour Force Surveys”.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the course is to “support and guide countries in generating systematic and comparable data on unpaid care work and volunteering via additional modules in labour-force surveys. The course aims to provide participants with the necessary skills to collect, measure, and analyse data to measure unpaid care work and volunteering. Moreover, the course will also emphasize the latest 19th ICLS resolutions
concerning the measurement and analysis of unpaid care work and volunteering.”
More specifically, the course aims to:
Enhance understanding statistical definitions underpinning the measurement of unpaid care work/volunteer work;
Provide insights about the surveys necessary to measure and analyze unpaid care work/volunteer work;
Examine how LFS add-on modules can be structured to contribute to the measurement and analysis of unpaid care work/volunteer work;
Learn how to address measurement issues related to collecting and analysing data on unpaid care work/volunteer work as LFS add-on modules.
CONTENT
Unpaid Care Work, Own-use Provision of Services & Volunteer Work
Statistical concepts & definitions: Own-use provision of services
Own-use provision of services: International & national priorities/practices
Measuring own-use provision of services in national Labour Force Surveys
Own-use provision of services: Key indicators
Volunteer Work: Statistical concepts & definitions; ILO add-on survey module; Key indicators
Volunteer Work: Implementation of the ILO add-on module: Main challenges and opportunities
Volunteer work: Sharing national experience; Q&A Closing & Wrap-up: Review of the key issues, questions & discussion
NUMBER OF HOURS: 60