March 2005

 

 

Political focus on women in the workforce has sparked public discussion and defence of the economic value and rights of unpaid carers. A group of researchers based at Massey University has entered the debate. With Professor Marilyn Waring and Dr Janet Sayers among the academics on board, the Massey group is currently writing a book focusing on Work-Life Balance in the invisible economy of unpaid work. Vital questions raised in a recent research forum discussion were:

 

 

The Massey project has already caught the eye of the Department of Labour. Massey’s Associate Professor Christa Fouche is optimistic about engaging with the DOL’s major Work-Life Balance policy initiative, which had previously only “peripherally covered” the realm of unpaid work. 

 

In her address to Parliament Helen Clark cited a Treasury report which calculated a potential increase of 5.1% of GDP by increasing labour participation to the average of the top five OECD countries, with a 1% increase riding on the backs of working mothers aged 25-34. Treasury is now undertaking a major research project on labour force participation which will include a closer look at the value of calculating this increase in GDP without taking unmeasured and unpaid household labour into account. 

 

The Treasury research will focus on: who is not participating in the labour force and why, what works in increasing participation, and what are the effects of increasing participation.