Almost everyone performs some form of unpaid household work each day. This article looks at the proportion of people performing unpaid household work and the time they devote to these activities. Variations across sex, age, living arrangements and labour force status are discussed. It is only in the latter part of the 20th century that many women, particularly married women, have been able to enjoy an income of their own. This article discusses how improved educational opportunities and changes in the social status of women, marriage and fertility patterns, employment and government pensions have all contributed to the increases in women's personal incomes over the past two decades.
All households have a finite amount of income to divide into a household budget.
They may allocate some of their household budget to expenditure on basic needs, some to expenditure on additional goods and services and some to provision for future expenditure. This article compares the different expenditure patterns of households in the bottom and top income quintiles. Placing a monetary valuation on unpaid work is one way of measuring how trends in unpaid work are changing over time and how this relates to the market economy. This article focuses on the value of unpaid work and its distribution between men and women and across various unpaid work activities. This article discusses the underlying social changes which have contributed to this increase and how these have impacted differently on the types of income support payments taken up by men and women.