Remuneration paid to employees on a regular and frequent basis (quarterly or more frequently) for time worked or work done, and for time not worked such as recreation and other types of leave. Cash earnings (inclusive of amounts salary sacrificed) are gross amounts, that is, before tax and other items (e.g. superannuation) are deducted.
Update to measuring unpaid care in the Labour Account
Update to experimental estimates of unpaid care in the Labour Account
Released
19/06/2026
Release date and time
19/06/2026 11:30am AEST
This information paper provides an update to previous methodologies and estimates of unpaid care. For further details, refer to earlier releases published in November 2024 and June 2025.
Overview
In September 2023, the Australian government released Working Future: The Australian Government’s White Paper on Jobs and Opportunity. This paper highlighted gaps in labour market data on unpaid care which, if addressed, would strengthen evidence-based policy decisions. The ABS was funded to provide estimates of the total hours spent on unpaid care and their monetary value, and model sex and age components to existing Labour Account data to provide a meaningful point of comparison with estimates of unpaid care.
An initial information paper published in November 2024 presented a first set of experimental estimates of unpaid childcare in Australia for June quarter 2021, based on preliminary concepts and methods. In 2025, the ABS undertook a consultation process via the Consultation Hub and further refined the methodology underlying the first estimates of unpaid childcare, as well as developing estimates of unpaid adult care and producing a time series of unpaid care (released in June 2025).
In 2026, in response to user consultation and ongoing international standards development, the ABS has continued to evolve estimates of unpaid care and updated data source inputs. Further information on household and carer characteristics has also been modelled, in addition to work focussed on valuing care hours using carer payments and measuring some financial aspects of caring.
This information paper presents information on:
- additions to the scope of unpaid care estimates,
- incorporating updates to input data sources,
- updated unpaid care estimates,
- modelling household and carer characteristics,
- valuing care hours using carer payments,
- measuring financial aspects of caring,
- measuring caring for country or culture by indigenous persons, and
- information on future directions and next steps.
Additions to the scope of unpaid care estimates
Additional activities have been incorporated into unpaid care estimates in this update, supporting a progressive expansion toward comprehensive measures of unpaid work and production. Decisions regarding changes in scope were assessed independently of updates to input data sources.
These enhancements to scope fell into two broad components:
- an expansion of activities classified as indirect childcare and indirect adult care to include additional own account service activities, and
- the inclusion of volunteering activities, encompassing both formal and informal volunteering.
Own account service activities
The scope of total indirect adult care and indirect childcare estimates has been expanded to include the following additional own account service activities from the three iterations of the Time Use Survey (TUS):
| Unpaid care activity | 2006 TUS activity | 2021 TUS activity | 4-digit Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gardening and lawn care | Gardening Lawn care | Gardening and lawn care | Gardeners (3622) |
| Grounds, garage and pool care | Cleaning grounds, garage etc Pool care Grounds/animal care nfd/nec | Grounds, garage and pool care | Other Miscellaneous Labourers (8999) |
| Home maintenance and repairs | Home/equipment repairs Heat/water/power upkeep Home maintenance nfd/nec | Home maintenance and repairs | Handypersons (8993) |
Home decoration and furnishing
| Designing new home or interior design Home improvements | Home decoration and furnishing | Handypersons (8993) |
| Car/boat/bike care | Car/boat/bike care | Car/boat/bike care | Motor Mechanics (3212) |
The inclusion of these additional own account service activities is still restricted to instances where a care dependency relationship exists. In respect of TUS data, in practical terms this results in limiting the activity hours included to:
- Childcare - 50% of hours if a child 14 or under is present in the household.
- Adult care - 50% of hours if respondent identifies as a carer to someone within the household OR elsewhere if care is as a result of disability or old age.
50% of hours are included, as these activities may also be undertaken on behalf of oneself and therefore not as part of providing unpaid care. 50% of these hours was chosen as a mid-point estimate, given the precise amounts are not distinguishable in TUS data.
The result of including these additional own account service activities in terms of the number of care hours is shown below. In the September quarter 2025, own account service activities represented:
- 2.8% of childcare hours,
- 8.3% of adult care hours, and
- 4.8% of total unpaid care hours.
Like all unpaid care activities, these additional hours can also be assigned a monetary value, according to various valuation methods. These methods are described below.
| Valuation method | Description |
|---|---|
| Individual function replacement cost method | Applies the wage for the equivalent occupation for each caring activity for the relevant demographic, at the time care activities were provided. |
| Minimum wage replacement cost method | Applies the national minimum wage rate at the time care activities were provided. |
| Housekeeper wage replacement cost method | Applies the housekeeper wage rate for the relevant demographic at the time care activities were provided. |
The monetary value of additional own account service care hours, valued using each method, is shown below. Own account service activities were valued in the September quarter 2025 at:
- $21.6 billion according to the individual function method,
- $14.7 billion according to the minimum wage method, and
- $19 billion according to the housekeeper wage method.
Volunteering activities
A further expansion of unpaid care estimates in this release is the inclusion of volunteering activities – both formal and informal. In this context formal volunteering activities are those undertaken on behalf of an organisation, while informal volunteering activities are those undertaken on behalf of another household. Given the precise nature of activities undertaken as part of volunteering is unknown, relatively generic occupation wage rates were applied as part of monetary valuation methods.
The following TUS activities have been included in measures of volunteering:
| Unpaid care activity | 2006 TUS activity | 2021 TUS activity | 4-digit Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteering - formal | Unpaid voluntary work | Voluntary work | Social Workers (2725) |
| Volunteering - household | Helping/doing favours | Help/favour for friend/neighbour | Housekeepers (8114) |
| Volunteering - Travel associated with voluntary work | Travel associated with voluntary work and care activities | Travel associated with voluntary work | Automobile drivers (7311) |
| Volunteering - Other voluntary work activities | Communication associated with voluntary work and care activities Voluntary work and care activities nec/nfd | Other voluntary work activities | Social Workers (2725) |
Some of these 2006 TUS activities were previously included as part of indirect adult care measures. Their treatment has been modified to account for the overlap with volunteering. The activities impacted included:
- Associated communication with voluntary work and care,
- Associated travel with voluntary work and care, and
- Other voluntary work and care activities.
The new treatment of these activities and separation between indirect adult care and volunteering involved the following:
- include all hours as part of indirect adult care if
- the respondent identifies as a carer to someone within the household or elsewhere if care is as a result of disability or old age, and
- the respondent did not do voluntary work.
- include 50% of hours as part of volunteering (with the remaining 50% allocated to indirect adult care) if
- the respondent identifies as a carer to someone within the household or elsewhere if care is as a result of disability or old age, and
- the respondent undertook voluntary work.
The result of measuring these volunteering activities in terms of the number of care hours is shown below. Volunteer activities represented 6.8% of total unpaid care hours in the September quarter 2025.
Like own account service activities, volunteer hours can also be assigned a monetary value. The monetary value of volunteering activities, valued using each method, is shown below. Volunteer activities were valued in the September quarter 2025 at:
- $44.3 billion according to the individual function method,
- $20.8 billion according to the minimum wage method, and
- $27.3 billion according to the housekeeper wage method.
Incorporating updates to data sources
2024 Time Use Survey
Data from the 2024 Time Use Survey (TUS) has been incorporated with this update to unpaid care estimates. This has involved identifying relevant activities, as well as modifying the previous treatment of data from the 2006 and 2021 TUS collections to derive a meaningful time series.
Activities from the 2024 TUS were included in unpaid care estimates as follows:
| Unpaid care activity | 2024 TUS activity |
|---|---|
| Childcare | Personal care for child Health and medical care for child Playing, reading or homework with child Cooking and food/drink preparation for child Supervising or watching child Accompanying child to activities Talking and emotional support for child Travel related to looking after children Other looking after children |
| Adult care | Personal care for adult Medical appointments for adult care Cooking and food/drink preparation for adult care Household tasks for adult care Forms and administration for adult care Emotional support, calling, visiting for adult care Travel related to caring support for adult Other caring and support for adults |
| Household activities | Cooking and food/drink preparation Housework Shopping and purchasing goods Administration (banking, bills, mail, planning) Travel related to domestic activities Other domestic |
| Own account service activities | Gardening, watering and grounds care Home and vehicle maintenance |
| Volunteering | Volunteering Travel related to volunteering Other volunteering |
A full listing of activities captured across all relevant TUS collections is available at Attachment A.
The treatment of secondary care hours – referred to in the 2024 TUS as supervisory care - has also been updated to account for changes in survey methods across TUS collections. Data from 2006 and 2021 TUS collections showed varied results for secondary care activities, however the 2024 survey method was significantly different.
Previous TUS iterations have collected detailed activity information about secondary activities, while for 2024 a “tick box” approach was used to identify only if supervisory care of a child or adult was undertaken in conjunction with the identified primary activity. As a result, the approach used with previous unpaid care estimates of applying averages from TUS collections for detailed activities was no longer appropriate.
With these updated unpaid care estimates:
- total secondary care for childcare and adult care was used instead of applying detailed activity information from 2006 and 2021 TUS collections.
- these secondary care hours were considered most likely to be direct care in the case of childcare hours, and indirect care in the case of adult care hours.
- this approach has enabled averaging across all TUS collections, and ensures all secondary hours are included and not double counted in instances where an individual carer may undertake different secondary activities across the survey period.
- this approach does, however, mean it is not possible as a future development to apply different wage rates if an activity was undertaken as a secondary activity as only aggregate measures of secondary activity hours can be produced.
In both overall level and in proportional terms, 2024 TUS showed higher rates of supervisory care when compared with 2006, and significantly higher when compared with 2021. It is not known whether this is reflective of an observed change in behaviour, or attributable to a change in collection method.
In addition, while “another term” for sex was collected as part of TUS 2024, it is not available from earlier surveys or other data inputs. As a result, estimates have been produced on a binary sex basis; “another term” responses to TUS 2024 have been excluded. There were minimal responses of this category present in TUS 2024 data, and this exclusion is unlikely to affect unpaid care estimates.
The overall effect of applying an average of three TUS collections across the unpaid care time series has been to increase the level of aggregate unpaid care hours approximately 10% across the time series when compared with previous estimates. Childcare hours increased by around 14% on average, while the effect on adult care hours was less with an increase of around 4%. The effect on aggregate monetary values was similar, as measured through the individual function replacement cost method.
A summarised version of the overall unpaid care methodology is provided at Attachment B.
2025 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours
Wage rates for unpaid care occupation equivalents are taken as median estimates from each Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours (EEH). Given these EEH estimates are biennial, Wage Price Index (WPI) information is used to model a quarterly time series.
The Labour Account has an established process for benchmarking annual stock estimates using a quarterly indicator series. This process ensures that higher quality annual benchmarks are maintained, while using quarterly time series movements from an appropriate, conceptually similar, indicator series to model a line of best fit between benchmark points.
2025 EEH data have been incorporated with these updated unpaid care estimates, as well as additional WPI data to extend the time series. These updates have caused minimal revisions to previous wage estimates.
Updated unpaid care estimates
The aggregate results of all updates to unpaid care estimates are shown below.
The total number of hours spent on unpaid care in the September quarter 2025 was 12.3 billion. The largest proportion of these hours, 53%, were spent on childcare.
The monetary value of these unpaid care hours in the September quarter 2025 was $461.1 billion, measured using the individual function replacement cost method.
Modelling household and carer characteristics
Additional household detail and characteristics of unpaid carers have been included with this update to unpaid care information. This data provides further insight into unpaid carers who also participated in paid employment, as well as the characteristics of households where unpaid care was undertaken.
Unpaid care hours
The following information has been included in respect of unpaid care hours:
| Carer or household characteristic | Outputs | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Labour force status of unpaid carer |
|
|
| Family composition |
|
|
Household and carer characteristics of unpaid care hours are shown below, with full data time series available in the data downloads section.
Monetary value of unpaid care
Monetary values can also be assigned to unpaid care hours classified by carer characteristics. Monetary values cannot readily be applied to unpaid care hours classified by household characteristics, as there is no clear option as to which wage rate to apply in these instances.
Monetary values for each labour force status are shown below.
Valuing care hours using carer payments
An alternative way to value unpaid care hours is through applying carer payments. The carer payment is an income support payment provided by the Australian Government to individuals who provide constant care to someone with a severe disability, medical condition, or who is frail aged. It is administered by Services Australia and is subject to eligibility criteria, including income and assets tests.
From 2006 to present, the core eligibility criteria for carer payments have remained stable:
- The carer must provide constant care to someone with a severe disability, medical condition, or terminal illness.
- Both the carer and care recipient must meet residency, income, and assets tests.
- Care must be provided in a private home setting.
A time series of hourly carer payments is required to apply to unpaid care hours. This has been modelled using the following approach:
- Carer payments are paid fortnightly, not on an hourly basis.
- 56 hours per week was chosen as a reference point, which assumes 8 hours of unpaid care is provided 7 days per week.
- Hourly carer payments were therefore calculated as fortnightly payments divided by two, then divided by 56.
- A range of different carer payments, supplements and entitlements are available.
- The single standard carer payment rate was chosen. This is the minimum possible rate, as the specific carer status associated with various unpaid care hours is unknown.
- Other potential carer allowances and supplements were not included. Some supplements are not specific to carers, and only certain carers are eligible for additional allowances.
- Carer payment recipient data are available annually until 2013, then quarterly from June 2013 onwards.
- Quarterly data prior to June 2013 were modelled using linear interpolation.
- Only a subset of unpaid carers are eligible for carer payments.
- A ratio of unpaid carers to carer payment recipients can be determined for each quarter.
- This ratio can be applied to the total number of unpaid care hours and is assumed to apply across various sex and age groups.
- Unpaid care volunteer hours are not included in these calculations, as undertaking these activities would not contribute toward eligibility for carer payments.
- This method also assumes that the proportional distribution of hours spent on various unpaid care activities by carer payment recipients is the same as those not receiving carer payments.
The number of carer payment recipients, relative to the total number of unpaid carers, is shown below.
The number of unpaid care hours undertaken by carer payment recipients, along with the monetary value if carer payments are applied to these hours, is shown below.
Measuring financial aspects of caring
Throughout stakeholder consultations, keen interest was expressed in understanding the impacts of caring on foregone superannuation earnings. This relates to certain aspects in particular:
- The disproportionate effect of lost superannuation on females, as they take on more of the caring workload.
- The compounding effect of lost superannuation over time, and the ultimate impact on an individual’s retirement income.
EEH data – inclusions and exclusions
The key data input to all unpaid care estimates on the wages side is information from the EEH. Specifically, the EEH data used in modelling unpaid care estimates is:
- median ordinary time cash earnings,
- of non-managerial employees,
- for each 4-digit ANZSCO occupation.
Relevant definitions from the EEH include:
Cash earnings
Ordinary time cash earnings
Superannuation contributions in the EEH
In practise, whether superannuation can be quantified separately in unpaid care estimates is dependent on how these amounts are reported in EEH data.
In general, superannuation contributions are paid in a couple of forms:
Employer contributions
Employee contributions
The EEH survey does not have a discrete question to capture employee superannuation contributions. While it does have a discrete question for 'salary sacrificed' amounts, these are potentially employee superannuation contributions but may also relate to another purpose. This means that neither employer nor employee superannuation contributions can be separately identified from the EEH.
Alternative superannuation data sources
Given the lack of available data to model superannuation from the ABS data sources used in modelling unpaid care, alternative sources were investigated as outlined below.
| Data source | Information available |
|---|---|
| Australian Taxation Office |
|
| Single Touch Payroll |
|
| ABS Economic Activity Survey |
|
| Australian Prudential Regulation Authority |
|
Modelling a time series of superannuation information
Information from APRA can be used to model a range of information around the superannuation of unpaid carers.
Average superannuation account balances by sex and age can be applied to the total number of unpaid carers for each demographic group, to model a total account balance for unpaid carers.
- This method assumes unpaid carers have the same average account balance as the whole population.
- This method would further make no distinction between the current labour force status of unpaid carers, as it cannot be assumed that only currently employed persons will hold superannuation.
- This data is available from June quarter 2021 to the current quarter, however the average rate of return could be applied to superannuation balances to model a longer time series back to December 2004.
Total superannuation balances of unpaid carers using this approach are shown below.
An alternative approach to modelling superannuation is to focus on those unpaid carers who are currently employed.
- APRA contains information from December 2004 to the current quarter around the total quarterly contributions to superannuation – both employer and employee contributions.
- These quarterly contributions can be compared with total quarterly hours worked from the Labour Account, to model an average superannuation contribution per hour worked.
- This average superannuation contribution per hour worked can be applied to the total number of unpaid care hours provided by employed unpaid carers.
- This would conceptually represent superannuation contributions foregone across all unpaid care hours.
- This approach also assumes average superannuation contributions and hours worked apply to unpaid carers.
- This effectively represents the superannuation contributions equivalent of the opportunity cost measurement approach.
- The opportunity cost method assumes that when unpaid care is provided, the carer has forgone the chance to undertake paid work at that time.
- The opportunity cost method does not account for the fact that unpaid care may be performed outside of usual working hours, on days where the carer is not working, or at times when paid work is not available.
- It also implies that an hour spent looking after a child is more valuable when carried out by someone in a higher paying occupation, despite the care activities being the same.
Superannuation contributions of employed unpaid carers using this approach are shown below.
Leave entitlements
A further area of interest to stakeholders raised during consultations is the effect unpaid caring may have on future leave entitlements of the unpaid carer.
TUS data is available for the following data items and can be applied to the population of unpaid carers:
Whether employer/business provides paid sick leave/holiday leave
- Not applicable
- Employer provides both paid sick and holiday leave
- Employer provides paid sick leave only
- Employer provides paid holiday leave only
- Employer provides neither paid sick nor holiday leave
It is therefore possible to model two time points of TUS data identifying unpaid carers who have access to leave entitlements. However, it is not feasible to estimate the value of leave entitlements foregone with any reasonable degree of reliability.
Labour Force Survey (LFS) data relating to access to paid leave entitlements is available from August 2014. Comparable information is not available from the Census. It would therefore be possible to model a short time series of unpaid carers with access to paid leave using the following potential method:
- From the 2021 TUS, determine the proportion of employed unpaid carers who have access to paid leave entitlements.
- These proportions could be back cast to 2014, and forward cast using movements in LFS data and then applied to the total population of unpaid carers.
This assumes that access to leave entitlements among unpaid carers changes at the same rate as for the total employed population.
Given the limited data available, this method is unlikely to produce meaningful estimates of leave entitlements for unpaid carers.
Measuring caring for country or culture
While international standards for defining and measuring care work are currently moving towards a position of defining care as it relates to the care of persons, caring for country/ culture/ the environment (referred to hereafter as caring for country) is an emerging area of interest in the Australian context that was raised during stakeholder consultations during 2025.
An investigation of potential data sources was therefore undertaken by the ABS, examining the feasibility of producing measures of caring for country.
Time Use Survey
An assessment of Time Use Survey (TUS) activities was undertaken to determine whether measuring caring for country is feasible using existing TUS data. This investigation found that caring for country, or similar activities, is not separately identifiable within the current TUS. It is also likely that where such activities are undertaken, they are reported across a range of TUS activity categories, such as voluntary work and community participation.
An assessment was also undertaken to determine whether Indigenous persons are separately identifiable within existing TUS data. This showed that there is no means of specifically identifying this population across the available TUS datasets. The closest approximation would involve identifying respondents who report an Australian Indigenous language as their main language spoken at home; however, this is not considered a reliable or robust method.
Census
There is a range of information relating to indigenous people available from various Census data, including identification of indigenous status. However, there is no specific information relating to caring for country available from the Census and, like the TUS, this type of activity is likely subsumed within broader categories such as volunteer work.
ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)
In the time covered by unpaid care estimates, there have been two iterations of the NATSIHS covering 2018-19 and 2022-23. While predominantly concerned with collecting information on health conditions and metrics, there is one small module within the survey which relates to aspects of cultural identification.
NATSIHS collected information
There is little information within this module which relates directly to modelling time spent caring for country. An overall percentage of people who live in homelands, or a percentage out of 365 days spent in homelands, might provide an indication of the proportion of care hours spent caring for country. This is unlikely to be a direct enough link to produce meaningful estimates.
ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)
In the time covered by unpaid care estimates, there has been one iteration of the NATSISS covering 2014-15. This survey covers a wide range of topics, including a module on language and culture. This is similar to, but more comprehensive than, the module collected as part of the NATSIHS.
NATSISS collected information
The language and culture module, combined with other selected survey variables, may assist in determining relative proportions of each population group who are indigenous, and participated in selected cultural events or activities. While information on the number of cultural events or activities participated in is available, this alone is not sufficient to derive an estimate of the time spent on these types of activities.
Other data sources – HILDA
An alternative data source which was investigated was the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) survey. The HILDA survey is a broad social and economic longitudinal survey, with particular attention paid to family and household formation, income and work. As the HILDA Survey has a longitudinal design, most questions are repeated each year. Nevertheless, within each survey wave, scope exists for asking questions on topics that are not covered every year.
The HILDA survey does collect demographic information which identifies respondents as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The survey also collects some information around caring for others and time use details, including volunteering. However, there is insufficient information on the activities undertaken or time spent to be useful in measuring caring for country.
Future directions and next steps
The ABS will continue to review and refine its estimates of unpaid care, with a view to maturing our approach to measuring unpaid care in labour statistics over time, in step with developments across the international statistical community.
The ABS is keen to hear the views of interested stakeholders regarding these future developments. To provide feedback or comment, please contact the ABS by emailing unpaid.care.consultation@abs.gov.au.
Data downloads
Table 1. Unpaid care in the Labour Account, experimental estimates
Data files
Attachment A – Mapping of TUS activities to unpaid care activities
Unpaid childcare
Unpaid adult care
Volunteering
Attachment B – Unpaid care methodology flowchart
Method for hours spent on unpaid care
Image
Description
This image is a flow chart describing the methodology used in this information paper to estimate hours spent on unpaid care. There are five steps describing how the input data sources are treated to produce an estimate of daily time spent on unpaid care. In step one, daily time spent on unpaid care activities is averaged across three iterations of the Time Use Survey, 2006, 2021 & 2024. In step two, the proportion of people who undertook care activities is averaged across the three Time Use Survey iterations. In step three, the proportion of persons who provided unpaid care from Census data is multiplied by the estimated population. In step four, the average proportion of people who undertook care activities (from step two) is multiplied by the count of persons who provided unpaid care (from step three). In step five, the average daily time spent on unpaid care activities (from step one) is multiplied by the count of persons who undertook care activities (from step four). The outcome of step five is an estimate of the daily time spent on unpaid care activities.