The unpaid work of Australians will once again count for something as Labor pledges to restore a major survey of how we spend our every minute.
The detailed time use survey is one of the most reliable estimates of work done in the home, recording the time Australians spend doing unpaid work such as caring for children and older people and doing housework.
It was held in 1992, 1997 and 2006 but the Australian Bureau of Statistics cancelled the study due to be run in 2013 after it was hit with the Gillard government's efficiency dividend.
That move was roundly criticised by many women's groups, who argue the data is important to understanding the value and economic importance of unpaid work.
Now Labor is promising to give the ABS an extra $15.2 million over the decade from 2019, including funding explicitly to run the time use survey in 2020 and 2027.
"Women do three-quarters of the child care, two-thirds of the housework, and 70 per cent of caring for elderly or disabled family members and friends," deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said on Tuesday.
"But Australia has no way of calculating the value to the economy of that unpaid caring work. The last time the survey was done was before we had iPhones."
Parenting and caring patterns are changing with men wanting to spend more time helping raise their families, but they are still much more likely to have requests for flexible work arrangements denied, she said.
"But we make it difficult for men to take on what's still thought of as 'women's work'," Ms Plibersek said.
"The root of the problem is that as a society we don't place enough value on caring work. We can start to make a change by acknowledging its economic importance."
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