Unpaid work – Data, indicatorsHousehold production satellite account - Introduction

The household production satellite account shows the relation between the monetary value of unpaid work to the total gross value added in Switzerland. The basis for this satellite account are private households' production activities that are not carried out on a commercial basis, i.e. the time spent by private individuals on unpaid work (e.g. domestic work). A monetary valuation which applies market costs enables comparison of household production as “fictitious” monetary flows with the National Accounts (CN).

The structure of the extended production account is as follows:

A new feature was the monetary valuation of unpaid work by means of average labour costs per man-hour, instead of the gross-gross hourly wage. The labour cost approach corresponds better to the market costs method utilised for the household production satellite account, because for the valuation of unpaid work it is assumed that the private household or private individual has the unpaid work done by a worker obtained through the market and is therefore theoretically put in the position of an employer.
Labour costs are all expenditures borne by employers in connection with the employment of personnel. Labour costs are composed of wages and salaries, employers' social insurance contributions and other expenditures (vocational training, personnel recruitment, etc.).

The most important differences from the previous calculations: The gross-gross wage corresponds to the hours paid; labour costs correspond to the hours actually worked which is why the equivalent hourly wage is higher (holiday, public holidays, illness, accident or absence for other reasons are also included). As basis for the calculation of labour costs, the Earnings Structure Survey 2006 was used which in addition to wage data from private enterprise and government administration also contains wage data from the cantonal and municipal public sector. This has a different impact on labour costs for certain activity groups.

The introduction of average labour costs per hour of work performed in order to conduct a monetary valuation of unpaid work resulted in a higher valuation of unpaid work, particularly in the areas of voluntary, honorary and informal activities. The introduction of average labour costs per hour of work performed in order to conduct a monetary valuation of unpaid work resulted in a higher valuation of unpaid work, particularly in the areas of voluntary, honorary and informal activities. As a result of this higher, labour-cost based approach, the share of unpaid work in total expanded economy is also higher than in earlier calculations.