Methods for valuing the output of household production using time use and other data

This chapter discusses two types of productive work, paid work (market work) and unpaid work (non-market or household work). It aims to correct the neglect of non-market/household production by conventional economic measures such as Gross Domestic Product, and, by so doing, estimate the value of total economic production (market + non-market/household). Time use surveys capture every activity, and hence can map what happens in the household economy. This chapter explains how time use survey data can be used to put monetary values on the time spent doing unpaid productive work. It argues that conventional measures are partial and give a misleading picture of macroeconomic activity. It shows that, when the whole economy is estimated, i.e. all productive work whether paid or unpaid, the size of currently overlooked elements rivals, perhaps even exceeds, the size of the portion currently estimated. This chapter argues that this has great significance for informing policy and planning.