Low Labour Productivity And Unpaid Care Work

Global patterns of the trade-off between paid work whether in the formal or informal economy and unpaid care work hold true for Jamaica. This pilot Time Use Survey (TUS) shows that Jamaica follows the general trend in the differences in the amount of time that men versus women spend on unpaid care work and on paid work. The study shows clearly that the allocation of Jamaican women’s time to unpaid care work has a negative correlation with their labour force participation rates, labour exclusion and gender pay gaps. The data provides an empirical basis on which to argue that there are real costs to the economy of unpaid care work, providing a basis for measures to be taken to reduce those costs. That there is a quantitative basis of the problem shows that relieving women of the burden of unpaid care work can redound to the commercial benefit of the broader economy.