It takes a lot of touch to have a child born and live his entire life. Northern European advanced welfare countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland, are’advanced countries of care services’ in which the state provides systematic support when care is needed in this life cycle.
Caring, an indispensable labor that cannot be stopped There are times when devotion is praised as a modifier for women’s care work, but the fact that that devotion not only causes physical and mental pain to them, but also pushes them into a bond of oppression Many close their eyes. Although deprived of the opportunity to pursue self-interest for centuries, women also did not fully appreciate this fact as a subjective entity. It is possible to buy care in the market now, but it is still an undervalued work that is a life cycle and pain for some, but at the same time a universal service that is desperately needed for others. In particular, from a labor point of view, caring is “the labor that made mankind’s survival possible” and “an essential labor that cannot be stopped at any point.” (Jiyeon Jang, Research Fellow, Korea Labor Institute) The descendants of Adam Smith, a great economist in the 18th century, behaved He did not pay attention to the value of the care work such as the labor of a daughter who is sick of an old mother who is unable to do so, the sweat of a mother changing diapers and cooking for the child, and the raising of a child-raising daddy who takes a break from work and takes care of the child. This is because it is difficult to price it with so-called’non-market sector’ labor that is not traded in the market. Many economists fundamentally recall the early economics saying, “It is not because the butchers or bakers are benevolent, but because they acted according to their own interests that enrich the table,” and human selfishness contributes to economic growth. , I think it benefits everyone. So, much of the care work done today unpaid plays a greater role than labor in satisfying the daily life needs and desires of individuals and reproducing the labor force of the present and the next generation, but is not reflected in the gross domestic product (GDP). However, just as there is a force that moves and automatically regulates supply and demand in the market, that is, an economy of the’invisible hand’, another force that moves based on family values such as love, duty, and mutual benefit, that is, the economy of the’invisible heart’ There is. “It is not the butcher or the baker who set the table, but the usual wife or mother.” (Nancy Paulbre, an American feminist economist) This caring economy also “is not recorded as a bank account, but individuals and families The act of cooking, cleaning, changing children’s diapers, and caring for the elderly plays the same role as income that increases economic welfare” (Professor Ja-young Yoon). Corona 19 has had an unprecedented impact since human history, such as the global economic downturn and the suspension of movement, but paradoxically, we are experiencing the importance and value of care work that has been overlooked. Social distancing reminded me of the value of public care services in each family. In fact, unlike mainstream economics, caring economics, such as feminism, paid attention to the value of such care work, and has delved into the economic value and social meaning of unpaid care work. It is argued that the parenting of the child or the child’s act of caring for the parent is a direct expenditure of time, an opportunity cost in that it can earn income from doing other things, and is also the value of other meaningful activities. So, I tried to show the value in terms of currency. A study in the U.S. showed that unpaid elderly care produced an economic value of about $350 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2006, or a domestic statistical office estimated that the economic value of unpaid housework in 2018 was 20.9-24.3% of gross national product. It also came out in this context. Caring Economy, Challenges to Mainstream Economics The economic sector that provides care for children, adolescents, adults, the elderly, the disabled, and those with chronic diseases is called the’care economy’. The study of this is caring economics. It is an alternative economics that poses a challenge to mainstream economics. One of the leading scholars, Professor Ito Fang, University of Toronto, Canada, said at an invitational seminar held at the Yonsei University Welfare Research Center in December 2019, “Caring economy includes health care, education, personal, social and other services, and in the formal and informal sectors. The concept includes both paid and unpaid work performed.” It is a concept that includes spending for children and parents, paid care work such as purchasing sick care services, and unpaid care work such as family and friends and neighbors. Professor Feng said this as a reason why a society should pay attention to the caring economy. ① Care is the key to sustainable economic development, providing women with opportunities to work, but at the same time is a source of gender, race, and class disparity. In particular, ② the paid care sector is the fastest-growing economic sector today in terms of job creation. ③ It is a common constraint that women face when choosing a job or going to school. ④ Above all else, care should not be left to the family or rely solely on women’s unpaid care work. In response to the increasing social demand for care services such as an aging society, the government, which has been promoting integrated care for local communities (community care), also officially introduced the concept of caring economy in the 2nd Basic Social Security Plan announced in April 2019. In addition, it announced that it will promote this from the perspective of so-called’well fairnomics’, which is an integrated operation of economic and social policies. With this opportunity, the caring economy is emerging as a new topic in our society. If so, how much would the economic value of caring labor in Korea be converted into currency?
There is also a constant movement to legally protect caring work. Members of the’solidarity for caring workers’ group are playing an action play at the Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, urging the National Assembly for legislation. yunhap news
Caring Economy-② The Value of Caring Labor Caring is still a lot of unpaid work by family members such as daughters and daughter-in-law. Because prices are not priced outside the realm of the capitalist market economy, care is still not properly valued. But, whether family or non-family, all care is an act of labor in which someone spends their time. So, the time someone administers is definitely the opportunity cost of another activity. In this context, scholars have studied caring labor time and its economic value in order to evaluate and recognize the value of unpaid care work for children and the elderly. How to convert the value of care work into money How do you estimate the economic value of care work in money? Scholars believe that three elements are needed for this. The first is to define caring work, and the second is to calculate caring work hours based on it. In fact, how to define and measure care work is a key issue in estimating the economic value of care work. This is because, depending on the definition, the economic value of care work may vary greatly, or problems that are underestimated or overestimated may arise. When it comes to caring work, people often think of the direct act of caring for children or the elderly face-to-face. In reality, caring for someone cannot stop with these direct actions. Just as a caregiver provides housekeeping support when caring for an elderly person who is unable to move, providing goods and services related to food, clothing and shelter for the child or the elderly being cared for is also caring work. Therefore, scholars refer to the former as’direct care work’ and the latter as’indirect care work’, and both are defined as care work. Even in this definition of care work, there is still room for controversy as the distinction between general domestic work is not clear. For example, if you cook or shop for your children, the housework work is obvious, but can you say that it is not caring work? These issues surrounding care work result in large deviations in the estimation of the economic value of care work. The third factor is to calculate as money by applying the wage rate to the time spent. This includes a method based on the assumption that’how much time would have been spent caring for someone, how much would it be if they were to make real money’, and the person who did the care work does not do it himself, but someone else does the job. There is a method (alternative use method) to set the price to be paid when making it a substitute for. Then, how much is the economic value of caring labor in Korea? Professor Ja-young Yoon (economics) of Chungnam National University recently tried this and came up with a price. The basic data Professor Yoon used for this was the ‘2019 Life Time Survey’. This survey was conducted by targeting household members over the age of 10 and asking about 29,000 people in 12,345 households to write a time diary for two consecutive days every 10 minutes. Prof. Yoon directly classifies caring for children under the age of 10 (nursing, studying, reading, and talking), caring for children over 10 years old, caring for adults who need long-term care, and moving related to caring. And meal preparation, laundry, and cleaning were classified as indirect care work. The hours of care were then measured and the average worker wage rate was applied. However, the average market wage rate for men was applied to men and the market wage rate for women was applied to women. The hourly wage data was used by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the survey on the status of work by employment type. As a result of the study, it was found that women over the age of 15 in Korea spend an average of 2 hours more daily on housekeeping and care work than men, and in market labor, men spend 2 hours more than women. Of course, this time input was different for families with and without children. For example, males in households with children under the age of 10 spend only 0.77 hours on housework and 0.91 hours on child care, while females spend 3.20 hours and 2.99 hours, respectively. Three times more caring work than women and men Through this calculation, the number of caring hours per person for individuals over the age of 20 was 497 hours per year for men and 1426 hours for women. In particular, it was found that women spend about 77% of the time they spend on market labor in direct and indirect care work. This time can be divided into caring for children under the age of 10, caring for children over the age of 10, and housework. Assuming that wages are paid to experts in each field at this time, it is estimated that men will receive an annual average of 5.83 million won to 6.65 million won and women will receive a labor value of 16.81 million won to 18.58 million won. In particular, household heads or spouse women living with children under the age of 19 are 1.26 times the average annual market working hours of wage workers, and their economic value amounted to 2786 to 3321 million won. It was estimated that if there are preschool children, it will increase to 3539~4173 million won. Converting this into total, it amounts to 12.7 trillion to 14.3 trillion won for men, and 37 trillion to 41.9 trillion won for women. Comparing this to the macro-indicator of gross domestic product (GDP, 19.94 trillion won in 2019), the economic value of caring labor is 2.64~2.93% of GDP. Prof. Yoon also presented it in comparison with government spending. The result represents 20.52 to 23.78% of government spending on health, education and social protection. Professor Yoon said, “This implies that if there is no unpaid care work at home, the government should add up to 20.52~23.78% of expenditure.” However, it shows that the economic value of the care work created in the home is still significant, although the family’s care work has moved considerably to the public domain through systems and businesses related to nursing care.” In the context of the pandemic of Corona 19, this is a vital confirmation of how much care work is essential in our daily lives and how much it has contributed to a country, society, and community. Furthermore, for some, caring can be a pain and a bridle, and it reminds us of the importance of policies to ensure healthy care, including a care gap. In fact, how can the value of care work be judged only with money? [email protected] Written by Nancy Paulbre, Translated by Ja-young Yoon, 『The Economics of Invisible Hearts』, 2007, Book Publishing Another Culture Ja-young Yoon, Economic Value of Unpaid Caring Labor 『Monthly Labor Review』, November 2020 no 188 , Korea Labor Institute Jang Ji-yeon, Corona 19 Pandemic and Paid and Unpaid Care Labor, 『Monthly Labor Review』, November 2020 issue no 188, Korea Labor Institute Eun Ki-soo, Corona 19 Pandemic and Changes in Child Care, 『Monthly Labor Review』, November 2020 issue no 188, Korea Labor Institute