WORKING for FREE

THE HOURS SPENT ON UNPAID HOUSEHOLD CHORES AND DUTIES VARY ACROSS THE COUNTRY

People spend an average of three hours and three minutes working for free each day

Additional minutes spent on unpaid work per day compared to London, after controlling for demographic differences

PEOPLE in the UK spend nearly seven weeks of the year working for free.

That is according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics. Unpaid work includes childcare, caring for disabled relatives, housework, cooking, DIY, laundry, transport (not as leisure) and volunteer work.

The UK average of three hours and three minutes worked for free each day is the same as 46 days and nine hours a year. In some place that’s even higher. People in the East of England worked three hours and 19 minutes unpaid per person every day, according to the Office for National Statistics - a rate of 49 days and 10 hours a year.

For people in both London and the North East, meanwhile, people work 41 days and 7 hours a year for free.

The statistics highlight the regional variation in productive unpaid activity.

In 2016, the value of the UK’S unpaid household service work was estimated to be £1.24 trillion.

That is equivalent in size to 63 per cent of the UK’S GDP.

The report stated that “Measuring unpaid production and consumption provides a more complete picture of the activities that affect people’s well-being.

“Time spent on different activities can affect people’s personal well-being, particularly when considering activities people chose to do against activities seen more as responsibilities.”

After the East of England, people in Northern Ireland spent the most amount of time working for free (three hours and 18 minutes a day), followed by Wales (three hours and 17 minutes).

In an earlier ONS study women were found to be responsible for 60 per cent of the UK’S unpaid work - working 26 hours a week for free compared to the 16 hours completed by men.

Some of the differences can be explained by the fact that people in certain areas may be older.

But even after controlling for demographic differences, such as employment rate and the proportion of young families, the figures showed that those in Wales performed 27 minutes more unpaid work per day compared with those living in London.

That was followed by the East of England (also 27), Northern Ireland (23 extra minutes) and Scotland (also 23).

The fact that the regions vary after taking demographic differences into account suggests that the amount of “free work” we do is related to cultural differences.

People living in Northern Ireland spent the most time with young children - 13 hours a day on average.

The figures also suggest they had a more social experience - Northern Irish parents spent the lowest proportion of time (six per cent) using devices while with children.