Care Economy

The care economy comprises work that looks after people and supports their everyday well-being. It includes both direct care, such as feeding a child, and indirect activities, such as cooking and cleaning, that make care possible. This labour may be paid or unpaid and may take place within households, communities or institutions.

Direct care: looking after people

Direct care involves attending personally to another person's physical, developmental or emotional needs. It is especially important for people who cannot meet all their needs independently.

• Childcare includes feeding, bathing, supervising and helping children learn.
• Care for older persons includes assistance with eating, mobility, personal hygiene and everyday activities.
• Care for people who are ill or have disabilities includes nursing, assistance with daily living and support suited to their needs.
• Supervision and emotional support are also forms of care; caregiving is not limited to physically demanding tasks.

Indirect care: sustaining everyday life

Indirect care consists of domestic work that maintains the conditions in which people can live and receive care. It may benefit several household members rather than one identifiable recipient.

• Cooking, cleaning and laundry provide food, hygiene and a functioning household environment.
• Shopping for household necessities and managing household supplies support everyday consumption and care.
• Fetching water or collecting fuel for household use enables essential domestic activities.
• Accompanying a dependent person to school or a health facility supports their access to education or treatment.

Paid and unpaid forms of care labour

The distinction between direct and indirect care concerns the activity performed; the distinction between paid and unpaid care concerns whether the worker receives remuneration. These classifications overlap rather than describe separate economies.

• Unpaid household care includes looking after family members and performing domestic tasks without wages.
• Paid care includes the work of nurses, childcare workers, home-care workers and domestic workers performing care-related tasks.
• Unpaid care can also be provided to people outside one's household through voluntary or community arrangements.
• Women perform a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic and caregiving work, but care labour is not inherently women's work.
• Not all unpaid labour is care work; unpaid work producing goods in a family farm or enterprise must be distinguished from domestic and caregiving services.