Guide on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work Economic statistics are designed to measure the market economy and generally exclude unpaid household service work, which may introduce a bias in various areas of economic analysis. For instance, an increase in childcare or long-term care provided by the government or private sector increases the quantity of goods and services produced in a country as measured in economic statistics. However, in 11 12 1 11 12 1 practice, this would simply reect that the production of the same service takes place in another 10 2 10 2 9 3 9 3 institutional sector instead of the household sector. 8 4 8 4 7 6 5 7 6 5 Valuing unpaid household service work would allow a better assessment of the economic and social impact of policy options. Some countries have started to do this through a Household Satellite Account. The present publication consolidates the existing experience and presents an internationally agreed approach to valuing unpaid household service work. The publication Guide on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work a) discusses the concept of unpaid household service work, b) identies methodological and implementation issues, c) addresses challenges associated with both the measurement of labour input and its Guide on Valuing subsequent valuation, d) contains examples of measuring own-use production work of services in selected country-specic contexts, and 11 12 1 11 12 1 10 2 10 2 e) provides recommendations and suggestions for further research. 9 3 9 3 8 4 8 4 The publication is designed to guide national statistical oces on selecting and applying methods for 7 6 5 7 6 5 valuing own-use production work of services, and on compiling Household Satellite Accounts. Unpaid Household Service Work 11 12 1 11 12 1 10 2 10 2 9 3 9 3 8 4 8 4 7 6 5 7 6 5 UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE Guide on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work United Nations New York and Geneva, 2017 Note The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ECE/CES/STAT/2017/3 Copyright © United Nations, 2017 All rights reserved worldwide United Nations publication issued by the Economic Commission for Europe Preface Economists have long pointed out the pitfalls that could arise when unpaid household work is excluded from macroeconomic analyses. Placing monetary values on activities carried out in the household is, however, not straightforward since the work is unpaid and often produces intangible services. To meet the need for methodological guidance on these issues, the Conference of European Statisticians established a Task Force in 2014. The Task Force on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work chaired by the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom worked through 2015 and 2016 to develop the present Guide. The Guide is based on the experience of UNECE member countries and other countries participating in the work of the Conference of European Statisticians. It guides national statistical offices on selecting and applying methods for valuing own-use production work of services, and on compiling Household Satellite Accounts. The implementation of the Guide’s recommendations would improve international comparability of statistics on unpaid household service work. While the publication mainly targets national statistical authorities, it also provides useful information for policymakers, researchers and other users of these data. UNECE is grateful to all experts who were involved in the preparation of this Guide. iii Acknowledgements The present Guide has been prepared by the UNECE Task Force on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work, which consisted of the following members: Dominic Webber, Chair of the Task Force (United Kingdom Office for National Statistics), Guinevere Hunt (Australian Bureau of Statistics), Malika Hamdad (Statistics Canada), Evelyn Larenas Fuentes (National Statistical Institute of Chile), Katri Soinne and Hannu Pääkkönen (Statistics Finland), Kristiina Aalto (University of Helsinki), Monica Montella (Istat, Italy), Raúl Figueroa Díaz (INEGI, Mexico), Vladimir Ganta (National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova), Andrej Kralj (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia), Jacqueline Schön-Bühlmann (Swiss Federal Statistical Office), Benjamin Bridgman (United States Bureau of Economic Analysis), Christopher Payne and Vasileios Antonopolous (United Kingdom Office for National Statistics), Andreas Dollt (Eurostat), Kieran Walsh (ILO), Peter van de Ven and Carlotta Balestra (OECD), Andres Vikat and Vania Etropolska (UNECE). The chapters of the Guide have been discussed and agreed by the entire Task Force. Some organizations took the primary responsibility of compiling certain chapters, as follows: chapters 1 and 5 by the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS), chapters 2, 3 and 6 by Statistics Canada, and chapter 4 by ONS, Istat (Italy), Statistics Finland and the University of Helsinki. iv Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... x Acronyms / Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 Introduction, Overview and Main Conclusions ............................................ 1 1.1 Why this Guide? .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Importance of unpaid household service work ............................................................ 2 1.3 Overview of the Guide ................................................................................................ 3 1.3.1 Chapter 2: Concepts and definitions ............................................................... 3 1.3.2 Chapter 3: Methodological approaches ........................................................... 4 1.3.3 Chapter 4: The structure of household satellite accounts ............................... 5 1.3.4 Chapter 5: Implementation and measurement challenges ............................... 6 1.3.5 Chapter 6: Reporting ....................................................................................... 6 1.3.6 Chapter 7: Country-specific case studies ........................................................ 6 1.3.7 Chapter 8: Current and future research work .................................................. 7 1.4 Main conclusions ......................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Summary of recommendations .................................................................................. 10 Annex 1.1: UNECE survey on national practices on valuing unpaid household service work ........................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Concepts and Definitions ............................................................................... 13 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 13 2.2 SNA production boundary and general production boundary ................................... 13 2.3 Defining own-use production work of services ......................................................... 14 2.4 What activities should be included? .......................................................................... 17 2.5 Valuing own-use production work of services .......................................................... 18 2.5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 18 2.5.2 The input valuation approach ........................................................................ 18 2.5.3 The output valuation approach ...................................................................... 19 Annex 2.1: Background to Resolution I of the 19th ICLS ................................................... 21 Chapter 3 Methodological Approaches .......................................................................... 22 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 22 3.2 Data and coverage ..................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Classification of activities to be measured ................................................................ 23 3.4 Valuation techniques ─ the input and output valuation approaches ......................... 24 3.4.1 The input approach ........................................................................................ 25 3.4.2 The output approach ...................................................................................... 31 3.4.3 Comparison between the output and input approaches ................................. 34 Chapter 4 The Household Satellite Account .................................................................. 37 4.1 Introduction to the household satellite account ......................................................... 37 4.2