Abstract
This paper describes in detail the methodology used to estimate the size of the unpaid care sector in South Korea, based on an input-based valuation approach. This estimate is then used to conduct analysis using empirical macroeconomic models, in particular through a Social
Accounting Matrix (SAM) model and then a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model developed by the World Bank (Maquette for MDG Simulations). Mainstream economists continue to define economic growth in terms of conventional measures such as market employment and income per capita. Women’s taking on full-time employment outside the home, therefore, has stimulated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, while the social cost of a shift from informal to the formal economy has been ignored.
The importance of fully recognizing the economic contributions of all forms of work – paid and unpaid – as a precondition for achieving gender equality has been proposed by feminist researchers since 1980s (Waring 1988, Folbre 1991). They have emphasized the need for empirical analysis of time devoted to unpaid care work, especially direct care of children, adults in need of assistance because of illness or disability, and the frail elderly.
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