The Allocation and Value of Time Assigned to Housework and Child-Care: An Analysis for Switzerland

Publication Type

Journal contribution (peer reviewed)

Authors

Sousa-Poza, A/Schmid, H/Widmer, R

Year of publication

2001

Published in

Journal of Population Economics (Reprinted in Vogler, M. / Zimmermann, K.F. (eds.) (2003), Family, Household and Work, Springer-Verlag, Berlin

DOI

10.1007/s001480000057

Page (from - to)

599-618

In this paper, data from the 1997 Swiss Labour Force Survey are used to analyse the allocation and value of time assigned to housework and child-care. It is shown that men’s allocation of time to housework and childcare is largely invariant to changes in socio-economic factors. Women’s allocation of time to housework and child-care, on the other hand, is shown to depend on several social, economic, and demographic factors. The value of time assigned to housework and child-care is calculated with two market replacement cost methods and three opportunity cost methods. The results show that the value of time assigned to housework and child-care ranges from 27% to 39% and from 5% to 8% ofGDP(in 1997), respectively. The value of time assigned to housework and child-care is also calculated for different household structures.