The Fact
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates indicate that in 1965 women averaged about 40 hours per week in household-production activities such as cooking, cleaning, childcare, shopping, gardening, odd jobs, and related travel. Men averaged about 14 hours per week.
What This Means
A large amount of economically useful work was being performed inside households even though most of it was unpaid and therefore excluded from standard GDP.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, household-production economic statistics and national-accounts work.