Unpaid Household Labor Approaches 500 Trillion Won Annually

Statistics Korea Announces Household Production Satellite Account Results (Unpaid Household Labor Value Assessment) on the 21st

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The value of invisible "unpaid household labor" within our economy has increased by more than 35% over the past five years, reaching 491 trillion won. This amounts to about one-quarter of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to the "Household Production Satellite Account Results (Unpaid Household Labor Value Assessment)" published by Statistics Korea on the 21st, household production was valued at 516.9 trillion won as of 2019, with the value of unpaid household labor estimated at 490.9 trillion won.

Household production increased by 36.6% compared to five years ago, and the value of unpaid household labor rose by 35.8% (129.4 trillion won).

The value of unpaid household labor accounted for nearly 25.5% of nominal GDP. In 2014, the share of unpaid household labor value was only 23.1% of GDP.

The per capita value of household labor was 9.49 million won, increasing by 33.3% over five years. Women accounted for 72.5% (356 trillion won) of the household labor value, while men accounted for 27.5% (134.9 trillion won).

The average daily unpaid household labor time for men increased steadily from 45 minutes in 2004 to 64 minutes in 2019. In contrast, for women, it decreased from 226 minutes to 205 minutes during the same period.

A Statistics Korea official explained, "The increase in men's share of household labor is due to the rise in single-person households and dual-income households, while the decrease for women is a result of reduced time spent on food preparation and caring for minors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.