The invisible pandemic: unpaid work

Cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, buying food, maintaining the house and taking care of children, among others, are necessary activities that are carried out daily in homes. Despite not having an assigned price when they are carried out by the members of the household, they have an economic value and carry an opportunity cost, since they represent the amount of time invested and money that a person could have obtained in the labor market or other productive activity.

For this reason, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) measures each year the economic value of the unpaid work that people aged 12 and over carry out in their homes, and calculates their equivalent participation in the national economy.

What was the value of housework and care in 2020?

In 2020, household and care tasks carried out by the population aged 12 or over had a value of 6.4 trillion pesos, equivalent to 27.6% of GDP. This figure is similar to what the City contributed of Mexico and the State of Mexico to the national GDP in 2019 (25%).

The lockdown led to increased demand for such tasks, reflected in a five percentage point change in the economic value of unpaid work between 2019 and 2020—the largest annual change since 2003.

How is the impact of the pandemic reflected in household dynamics?

In the first year of the pandemic, the participation of both men and women in the economic value of unpaid household work increased. Male participation in activities such as food preparation and maintenance of housing, clothing and footwear increased more than that of women. Despite this change, household and care activities fall disproportionately on women: in 2020, they contributed 2.7 times more economic value for this type of work than men.

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How much is unpaid work worth in the Mexican economy?

If unpaid work were a sector, it would be the largest in the country by economic value. The estimate for 2020 was 47% greater than the value of the commerce sector and five times greater than the transport sector.

Does the marital status of women affect the unpaid workload?

Family structures are constantly evolving. Although they are increasingly far from the traditional standard where the man is the one who provides the income and the woman is the housewife, in many cases the social norm that points to women as responsible for domestic and care tasks still permeates. When analyzing data by marital status, married women contribute almost half of the economic value of unpaid household work, compared not only to married men (16%) but also to women single (25%).

Measuring the value of unpaid domestic and care activities makes it possible to measure their importance and make visible the unequal burden that women face when carrying out most of these types of tasks. Executing them reduces your time available to participate in paid work, develop professionally or dedicate time to receive education.

In Mexico, women represent only 39% of the labor force, one of the lowest rates among OECD countries. However, increasing the representation of women in the labor market would have economic benefits. The IMCO estimated that the country's GDP could grow 15% in the next 10 years if they add 8.2 million workers by the year 2030. For this, it is necessary to resume the discussion on the creation of the National Care System, accompanied by a public budget for its implementation, as well as actions that promote the redistribution of unpaid work within households, for example through paternity leave. To make Mexico a more competitive country in which more women achieve economic autonomy.