Putting a price on the stay at home parent’s economy be dangerous territory – how much is home-based work worth?
Life insurance provider TAL has dared to quantify the figure, and they’ve arrived at $22 billion.
Based on their hours worked and using the minimum wage of $16.37 per hour, the figure is almost twice the value that volunteering contributes to the Australian economy ($14.6 billion).
“We all know how much stay at home parents do for the family but this study enables us to put a dollar value on the domestic economy,” TAL Life CEO Brett Clark said.
The research found that the average working week for a stay at home parent is 43.1 hours – some 11% longer than the average hours worked by paid full-time employees at 38.8 hours.
The survey found that each week activities include cooking for an estimated 8 hours and 36 minutes, washing and ironing clothes for 5 hours and 18 minutes, cleaning for 14 hours and 6 minutes and spending 3 hours and 24 minutes walking, washing and caring for four legged family members.
