Women’s Household Work May Be Added to US Surveys

  • Poll to include metric that quantifies child care, home duties
  • Women provide nearly 80% of household services, study finds

Women provide nearly 80% of household services that are crucial to sustaining spending and living standards, such as childcare and do-it-yourself home repairs.

Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Surveys that provide key information for consumer-spending measures may soon reflect household work that is overwhelmingly done by women.

Women provide nearly 80% of household services that are crucial to sustaining spending and living standards, such as childcare and do-it-yourself home repairs, according to a report contracted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings are expected to be integrated into consumption figures within the Consumer Expenditure Surveys.