The Australian Care Economy:

A gender perspective

27th March 2013

Scoping the Australian care economy :

A Gender Equity Perspective (2010)

Counting on care work in Australia (2012)

Objectives of the first project1. To examine how the care economy may be

defined 2. To identify the issues relevant to paid and unpaid

care 3. Collate a list of public policies which provide

government support to the care economy 4. Identify the impact of the care economy on

women‘s economic wellbeing 5. Research recent statistics on the Australian care

economy 6. Identify gaps in the literature & areas for further

research.

Defining the care economy The most comprehensive definition to date comes

from a case study of the state of Massachusetts in the US (Albelda et al. 2009), which categorised both paid and unpaid care work into:

Interactive care work, labour suppled directly through a face-to-face relationship directed to meeting the needs of a care recipient, and

Care support work, the less visible support work that keeps the institutions of care running.

Issues identified Data issues Gender equity Longevity and an ageing population Unpaid care ‘Welfare to work’ Young carers Paid care Exploitation.

Gender equity The provision of care is a highly gendered

activity, which reproduces inequality between men and women

Paid caring work attracts a ‘wage penalty’ and pays less than other occupations

The personal costs of providing both paid and unpaid care are borne disproportionately by women and can lead to inequality among women

Gender norms play a key role in maintaining the gender division of labour in care work.

Longevity & an ageing populationPoses a challenge to the adequate future supply of

caring labour: An increasing number of care recipients whose

care needs are becoming more complex Rather than juggle the competing demands of

paid work and care, many carers may reduce their paid working hours or exit the labour force

The aging population is spawning a ‘sandwich’ generation of carers who are caring for a child and have an elderly relative who also requires care.

Informal care Informal carers are most likely women, older than

the general population, and either working part-time or not in the workforce (Access Economics 2005)

Almost half have caring responsibilities equivalent to a full-time job and over half experience some form of financial difficulty (ABS 2008)

About half have no regular assistance with the care they provide and around one-third would like an improvement in their caring role including better financial support (Hales 2007).

Unpaid care Carers have the lowest subjective wellbeing of

any group yet researched (Cummins & Hughes 2007)

The government subsidy for informal care is much lower than other care streams (Access Economics 2005)

There is a lack of affordable care options for many carers

The future supply of informal care may fall short of the demand for family-based care.

Paid care work Increased labour force participation of women has

increased the demand for paid care services Paid care services suffer from a ‘cost disease’ Quality of paid care is difficult to monitor Low wages result in workers feeling demoralised Paid care tends to be undervalued in market

terms wherever it is supplied Residential aged care facilities provide a good

example of a marketised care service.

Impact on women’s economic wellbeing Affected by both paid and unpaid care work Caring occupations pay less than jobs with similar

characteristics and women‘s segregation in caring jobs helps explain the persistence of gender differences in pay

Informal carers are less likely than non-carers to be employed and less likely to be working full-time

Carers who experience financial hardship also experience low face-to-face social contact with relatives and friends outside their household.

Women’s workforce participation Workforce flexibility and the availability and

responsiveness of community support services will be a prime consideration for an increasing number of mature age workers providing care to a frail parent or a spouse with a disability

Many women’s workforce participation is not resulting in adequate superannuation to fund their retirement

Eliminating the gender wage gap in its entirety could be worth around $93 billion or 8.5% of GDP.

Unpaid care & workforce participation As the population ages, there will be increasing

numbers of care recipients with increasingly complex care needs

Employers wishing to retain female workers will need to respond flexibly to the needs of those with caring responsibilities

Care needs can significantly impact on a carer‘s ability to engage in substantial participation in the workforce

The productivity losses associated with the provision of informal care are mainly borne by the individuals providing the care whose wage income is reduced.

Flexible working arrangements Women are much more likely than men to use

shift, casual or part-time work as a means of managing their caring responsibilities

More single mothers make use of ‘family-friendly’ work arrangements to provide care than couple mothers

About a quarter of employees who become carers do not have access to any carer-friendly workplace arrangements.

Purpose of second project

First quantification of the Australian care sector, paid and unpaid, using both replacement and opportunity cost methods Examining paid care work, unpaid care work

and government investment in the care sector Labour and resources devoted to the daily care

of Australians Developing categories, concepts and measures

of care work to enable international comparisons

Paid care demographics

Women are the primary paid care providers in Australia by three times

Paid care sector workers earn 96 cents for every dollar earned by the average Australian worker

Women in the paid care sector earn 84 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts

Unpaid care demographics Women are more involved in voluntary activities

Women are the primary unpaid care providers

Per day, women spend two thirds more time providing unpaid care than men

Forty-two per cent (42%) of women not in the labour force cite family reasons. Caring for children is the key factor

Paid care results

Income earned by care sector workers in 2009-10 was $112.4 billion, equating to 8.8% of total GDP and $5,033 per capita

1.8 million EFT workers in care sector providing app 20% all paid work in Australia

Unpaid care results

The imputed value of unpaid care work in Australia for 2009-10 is estimated at between $601 billion (replacement cost method) $699 billion (opportunity cost method)

At the mid-point ($650 billion), the care sector equated to 51% of GDP in 2009-10 or $29,120 per capita

Unpaid care results

21.4 billion hours unpaid care work undertaken in 2009-2010

Equivalent to 11.1 million FTE positions, 1.2 times total Australian FTE workforce

Imputed value $650.1 billion; 50.6% GDP

Public investment

The Commonwealth, State/Territory and local governments spent $136 billion on care equating to $6,085 per capita in 2009-10

Limitations to AEC Group research

Factors not captured in the research Career progression and income opportunity

costs Emotional labour and stress Financial stress Cultural diversity