2020年2月,在我們的家庭生活和工作因?yàn)樾鹿谝咔槎活嵏驳那耙粋€(gè)月,,作家和辯護(hù)律師伊芙·羅德斯基出席了達(dá)沃斯的座談會(huì),,她講的一番話具有驚人的先見之明:由于無薪勞動(dòng),美國“正在面臨一場(chǎng)危機(jī),,那就是可能失去女性勞動(dòng)者30年至40年的經(jīng)濟(jì)參與,。”
羅德斯基根據(jù)自己的研究,、調(diào)查和對(duì)1000多名女性有關(guān)兒童護(hù)理問題的訪談得出了這個(gè)結(jié)論,。對(duì)于大多數(shù)媽媽來說,,家中看護(hù)子女的緊急需求意味著她們不得不退出勞動(dòng)力大軍。
在羅德斯基發(fā)表講話一個(gè)月后,,全球疫情爆發(fā),,學(xué)校停課,女性發(fā)現(xiàn)她們正在面臨一場(chǎng)真實(shí)的災(zāi)難,。她們不得不承擔(dān)起更多的家務(wù)和照顧子女的責(zé)任,,同時(shí)還要從事有薪酬發(fā)放的工作,讓自己精疲力盡,。結(jié)果有數(shù)百萬女性選擇退出了勞動(dòng)力隊(duì)伍,,兩年后這些人并沒有全部重新回到工作崗位。
這引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)史無前例的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī),,將對(duì)未來數(shù)十年的美國社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)產(chǎn)生影響,,甚至其影響可能持續(xù)幾代人。女性失去了工資,,失去了退休儲(chǔ)蓄,,也失去了機(jī)會(huì)。
但如果能夠用某種方式來體現(xiàn)無薪工作的價(jià)值呢,?如果我們計(jì)算出兒童看護(hù)工作的貨幣價(jià)值,,或者將其納入國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(Gross Domestic Product)的計(jì)算呢?女性使用自己時(shí)間的結(jié)構(gòu),、對(duì)這些時(shí)間的價(jià)值評(píng)估以及我們對(duì)于國家整體經(jīng)濟(jì)健康的看法,,就會(huì)因此發(fā)生哪些改變?
羅德斯基認(rèn)為,,更正規(guī)的衡量無薪工作的系統(tǒng)將產(chǎn)生一種截然不同的社會(huì)契約,,改變整個(gè)社會(huì)對(duì)這種關(guān)鍵勞動(dòng)力的看法和價(jià)值評(píng)價(jià)。這個(gè)理論的提出成為一場(chǎng)運(yùn)動(dòng)的起點(diǎn),,使這種理念引起了人們的關(guān)注,,它就是“2030年前無薪工作納入GDP”項(xiàng)目(Unpaid Work in the GDP by 2030),該項(xiàng)目于4月28日晚上在美國舊金山召開的婦女政策研究所權(quán)力+峰會(huì)(IWPR Power+ Summit)上正式啟動(dòng),。
對(duì)于關(guān)注女性和職場(chǎng)問題的任何人來說,,4月28日晚上召開的首次線下會(huì)議的與會(huì)者,都是護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)領(lǐng)域的意見領(lǐng)袖,,包括美國婦女政策研究所(IWPR)的首席執(zhí)行官C·尼科爾·梅森,、她創(chuàng)造了“女性衰退”這個(gè)詞;全美家政工人聯(lián)盟(National Domestic Workers Alliance)的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人蒲艾真(Ai-jen Poo),;以及馬歇爾母親計(jì)劃(Marshall Plan for Moms)的發(fā)起者拉什瑪·薩賈尼等,。美國國內(nèi)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和心理學(xué)家也參與了該項(xiàng)目,包括美國人口普查局(U.S. Census)的米斯蒂·海格尼斯和南加州大學(xué)(USC)的達(dá)比·薩克斯比,。4月的會(huì)議結(jié)束之后,,該項(xiàng)工作將于2022年9月29日至30日在洛杉磯正式啟動(dòng),,針對(duì)無薪勞動(dòng)問題召開全天跨學(xué)科會(huì)議。
在4月27日的晚宴上,,羅德斯基介紹了一家私人基金會(huì)公平政策研究所(Fair Play Policy Institute),,該基金會(huì)致力于研究和政策工作,旨在讓更多人意識(shí)到尊重?zé)o薪勞動(dòng)的重要性,。該項(xiàng)目的目標(biāo)是采取有意義的措施,,改變美國人的價(jià)值主張,對(duì)在兒科診所陪孩子的時(shí)間與在董事會(huì)會(huì)議室里的相同時(shí)間賦予同樣的價(jià)值,。
美國的許多社會(huì)福利都與就業(yè)掛鉤,,包括帶薪休假、退休儲(chǔ)蓄和醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)等,,這讓無薪勞動(dòng)者處于嚴(yán)重的劣勢(shì),。與此同時(shí),如果沒有數(shù)百萬人花費(fèi)數(shù)百萬小時(shí)照顧老幼,,美國就將陷入癱瘓,。這些工作雖然沒有薪酬,但卻有重要的價(jià)值:美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局(Bureau of Economic Analysis)的評(píng)估顯示,,在疫情初期將家庭生產(chǎn)添加到GDP,,將使GDP增長率提高三個(gè)百分點(diǎn)。
這種工作既然如此重要,,為什么最開始被排除在GDP以外呢,?
八十年前,英國的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家詹姆斯·米德和理查德·斯通設(shè)計(jì)了一種國民收入核算方法,,并創(chuàng)造了國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)這個(gè)術(shù)語,用于衡量購買和出售的商品與服務(wù)價(jià)值,。像現(xiàn)在一樣,,當(dāng)時(shí)就有一些激烈的批評(píng)聲音,認(rèn)為在國民收入核算中排除無薪勞動(dòng),,是嚴(yán)重的計(jì)算錯(cuò)誤,。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和人類學(xué)家們認(rèn)為,無薪勞動(dòng),,無論是發(fā)展中國家的撿柴火和打清水,,還是所有國家的養(yǎng)兒育女,都是國家經(jīng)濟(jì)成功從根本上必不可少的,。
米德和斯通的研究助理菲利斯·迪恩曾經(jīng)主張有必要在GDP中包含無薪家庭勞動(dòng),。但這兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家都對(duì)她的建議置若罔聞。1953年,,聯(lián)合國(United Nation)創(chuàng)建了第一個(gè)用于核算GDP的國民經(jīng)濟(jì)核算體系(System of National Accounts),,其中完全忽視了無薪家庭勞動(dòng),。該體系之后一直被經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和政策制定者作為判斷經(jīng)濟(jì)健康狀況的主要指標(biāo)之一。
當(dāng)前的GDP核算沒有將無薪勞動(dòng)計(jì)算在內(nèi),,給數(shù)以百萬計(jì)的無薪勞動(dòng)者造成了一種隱藏稅,,她們主要是照料家庭的女性、居家的母親和女兒,,為了照顧子女或父母,,她們不得不減少工作時(shí)間或者徹底離職。有一項(xiàng)估算顯示,,家庭照料者的終生收入減少了30萬美元,,這筆損失會(huì)使社會(huì)保險(xiǎn)供款、養(yǎng)老金,、穩(wěn)定退休金等福利減少,。
位于美國紐約州奧伊斯特灣的職業(yè)治療助理法伊思·拉希德曾經(jīng)習(xí)慣了長時(shí)間照顧他人,而這些工作大都沒有報(bào)酬,。多年來,,她會(huì)通勤30分鐘前往康復(fù)中心,幫助患者重新學(xué)習(xí)走路,、穿襪子到使用馬桶等基本技能,。下班回家后,她要開始“第二次輪班”,,照顧年邁的父親,,他患有四期轉(zhuǎn)移性肺癌。但這一切在新冠疫情期間戛然而止,,因?yàn)闉榱舜_保家人不會(huì)感染新冠病毒,,她辭去了有報(bào)酬的工作。
與美國數(shù)百萬女性和越來越多需要照顧年邁父母的男性一樣,,照顧父親的重?fù)?dān)落在了拉希德的身上,,得不到任何報(bào)酬或經(jīng)濟(jì)支持。她之前的有償工作和照顧父親的工作內(nèi)容完全一樣,。但目前的GDP模型卻只計(jì)算了她提供有償護(hù)理的價(jià)值,。
對(duì)國民收入核算體系進(jìn)行如此大規(guī)模的修改是否可行?美國人口普查局的首席經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家,、主要從事護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)研究的米斯蒂·海格尼斯說:“這是完全可行的,。問題是我們?cè)跉v史上從來沒有重視這個(gè)問題?!?/p>
美國目前確實(shí)已經(jīng)有一個(gè)系統(tǒng)開始衡量無薪勞動(dòng):美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局,。該部門與美國人口普查局合作衡量人口增長與趨勢(shì)。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們可以通過《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》(American Time Use Survey)的數(shù)據(jù)來分析人們?nèi)绾问褂米约旱臅r(shí)間,,從而能夠同時(shí)跟蹤有償工作和無薪勞動(dòng),。
海格尼斯解釋說:“這被稱為國民收入核算中的家庭生產(chǎn)核算,。核算所生成的替代GDP測(cè)量結(jié)果中包含了家庭生產(chǎn)。家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)和護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的部分問題在于,,我們沒有強(qiáng)大的系統(tǒng)性衡量家庭活動(dòng)的傳統(tǒng)方法,。”
美國馬薩諸塞大學(xué)阿默斯特分校(University of Massachusetts-Amherst)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)榮譽(yù)教授南?!じゲㄈR稱,,經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)研究注重使用GDP等一致的指標(biāo),讓各國可以跟蹤經(jīng)濟(jì)隨著時(shí)間推移出現(xiàn)的變化,。弗波萊主張,,沒有必要調(diào)整GDP的組成部分,更謹(jǐn)慎的做法是使用《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》的數(shù)據(jù),,創(chuàng)建一個(gè)擴(kuò)大指標(biāo),,將無薪工作的價(jià)值考慮在內(nèi)?!皵U(kuò)大GDP”為衡量國家健康狀況提供了一個(gè)更好的指標(biāo),,也能夠更準(zhǔn)確地評(píng)估全社會(huì)的表現(xiàn)。
弗波萊表示,,這個(gè)指標(biāo)將展示“無薪工作對(duì)我們的生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和家庭成員的重要性,,例如我們的受撫養(yǎng)人、子女,、病人或殘疾人等,。”
將無薪勞動(dòng)納入GDP面臨的一些問題
但美國馬里蘭大學(xué)(University of Maryland)的知名教授,、從事女性勞動(dòng)力參與研究的索納爾德·德賽認(rèn)為,,在將無薪勞動(dòng)納入GDP時(shí),考慮到人們?nèi)〈峁┑谋憷?wù)所從事的工作,,可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)一些意想不到的問題,。
德賽提到了發(fā)展中國家沒有自來水或穩(wěn)定燃料來源的例子。如果男性和女性要步行數(shù)英里獲得清水或拾取柴火,,將這部分無薪勞動(dòng)添加到GDP,可能讓這個(gè)國家看起來比實(shí)際情況更富有,,但這并不準(zhǔn)確,。再比如,在美國,,家長下班后會(huì)幫助孩子補(bǔ)課,,彌補(bǔ)學(xué)校教育的不足。德賽說:“這些時(shí)間是有價(jià)值的,,但如果將這些價(jià)值添加到GDP當(dāng)中,,就會(huì)產(chǎn)生一種國家的生產(chǎn)總值更高的表象,,但實(shí)際上掩蓋了國家未能提供優(yōu)質(zhì)學(xué)校的事實(shí)?!?/p>
德賽建議,,不需要修改現(xiàn)有的GDP,而是可以通過美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局和《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》的衛(wèi)星賬戶,,更好地了解總體經(jīng)濟(jì)健康狀況,。索拉爾表示,可以對(duì)衛(wèi)星賬戶指定一個(gè)數(shù)值,,使無薪勞動(dòng)者能夠?qū)ι绫:屯诵莼鹱鞒鲐暙I(xiàn),,或者休帶薪事假。難度較大的部分在于如何結(jié)合市場(chǎng)成本和無薪勞動(dòng)者的經(jīng)驗(yàn)與教育水平,,為無薪勞動(dòng)確定恰當(dāng)?shù)墓べY,。確定主要由女性承擔(dān)的護(hù)理工作的價(jià)值是一個(gè)復(fù)雜的問題,美國至今依舊沒有解決,。這些工作主要由有色人種女性從事,,工資較低。
海格尼斯表示:“對(duì)于主要由女性承擔(dān)的所有無形工作,,美國社會(huì)從來沒有真正充分認(rèn)識(shí)到它們的價(jià)值,。今天遭遇到的任何阻力,多半是由于那些掌權(quán)者歷史上因?yàn)檫@些無形的工作獲得了好處,,他們依舊低估了這些工作對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)健康穩(wěn)健發(fā)展的真正貢獻(xiàn),。”
羅德斯基認(rèn)為,,使用一個(gè)主要由女性參與創(chuàng)建的更好的系統(tǒng),,評(píng)估無薪勞動(dòng)的價(jià)值,將為女性帶來更好的結(jié)果,。她說:“為什么知識(shí)不能變成力量,?我無法告訴你當(dāng)[無薪勞動(dòng)]被納入國民收入核算后會(huì)是一種什么情形,但我可以告訴你當(dāng)它被忽視的時(shí)候是什么樣子,。生育權(quán)受到抑制,。沒有帶薪休假。沒有兒童護(hù)理選擇,。這些工作不被納入GDP,對(duì)我們有什么好處,?情況還會(huì)變得更糟嗎,?我們倒不如嘗試一些新的做法。”(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
本文作者瑞貝卡·加萊(Rebecca Gale)是新美國美好生活實(shí)驗(yàn)室(Better Life Lab at New America)的記者,,本篇報(bào)道得到了美好生活實(shí)驗(yàn)室的支持,。
譯者:劉進(jìn)龍
審校:汪皓
2020年2月,在我們的家庭生活和工作因?yàn)樾鹿谝咔槎活嵏驳那耙粋€(gè)月,,作家和辯護(hù)律師伊芙·羅德斯基出席了達(dá)沃斯的座談會(huì),,她講的一番話具有驚人的先見之明:由于無薪勞動(dòng),美國“正在面臨一場(chǎng)危機(jī),,那就是可能失去女性勞動(dòng)者30年至40年的經(jīng)濟(jì)參與,。”
羅德斯基根據(jù)自己的研究,、調(diào)查和對(duì)1000多名女性有關(guān)兒童護(hù)理問題的訪談得出了這個(gè)結(jié)論,。對(duì)于大多數(shù)媽媽來說,家中看護(hù)子女的緊急需求意味著她們不得不退出勞動(dòng)力大軍,。
在羅德斯基發(fā)表講話一個(gè)月后,,全球疫情爆發(fā),學(xué)校停課,,女性發(fā)現(xiàn)她們正在面臨一場(chǎng)真實(shí)的災(zāi)難,。她們不得不承擔(dān)起更多的家務(wù)和照顧子女的責(zé)任,同時(shí)還要從事有薪酬發(fā)放的工作,,讓自己精疲力盡,。結(jié)果有數(shù)百萬女性選擇退出了勞動(dòng)力隊(duì)伍,兩年后這些人并沒有全部重新回到工作崗位,。
這引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)史無前例的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī),,將對(duì)未來數(shù)十年的美國社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)產(chǎn)生影響,甚至其影響可能持續(xù)幾代人,。女性失去了工資,,失去了退休儲(chǔ)蓄,也失去了機(jī)會(huì),。
但如果能夠用某種方式來體現(xiàn)無薪工作的價(jià)值呢,?如果我們計(jì)算出兒童看護(hù)工作的貨幣價(jià)值,或者將其納入國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(Gross Domestic Product)的計(jì)算呢,?女性使用自己時(shí)間的結(jié)構(gòu),、對(duì)這些時(shí)間的價(jià)值評(píng)估以及我們對(duì)于國家整體經(jīng)濟(jì)健康的看法,就會(huì)因此發(fā)生哪些改變,?
羅德斯基認(rèn)為,,更正規(guī)的衡量無薪工作的系統(tǒng)將產(chǎn)生一種截然不同的社會(huì)契約,改變整個(gè)社會(huì)對(duì)這種關(guān)鍵勞動(dòng)力的看法和價(jià)值評(píng)價(jià),。這個(gè)理論的提出成為一場(chǎng)運(yùn)動(dòng)的起點(diǎn),使這種理念引起了人們的關(guān)注,它就是“2030年前無薪工作納入GDP”項(xiàng)目(Unpaid Work in the GDP by 2030),,該項(xiàng)目于4月28日晚上在美國舊金山召開的婦女政策研究所權(quán)力+峰會(huì)(IWPR Power+ Summit)上正式啟動(dòng),。
對(duì)于關(guān)注女性和職場(chǎng)問題的任何人來說,4月28日晚上召開的首次線下會(huì)議的與會(huì)者,,都是護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)領(lǐng)域的意見領(lǐng)袖,,包括美國婦女政策研究所(IWPR)的首席執(zhí)行官C·尼科爾·梅森、她創(chuàng)造了“女性衰退”這個(gè)詞,;全美家政工人聯(lián)盟(National Domestic Workers Alliance)的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人蒲艾真(Ai-jen Poo),;以及馬歇爾母親計(jì)劃(Marshall Plan for Moms)的發(fā)起者拉什瑪·薩賈尼等。美國國內(nèi)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和心理學(xué)家也參與了該項(xiàng)目,,包括美國人口普查局(U.S. Census)的米斯蒂·海格尼斯和南加州大學(xué)(USC)的達(dá)比·薩克斯比,。4月的會(huì)議結(jié)束之后,該項(xiàng)工作將于2022年9月29日至30日在洛杉磯正式啟動(dòng),,針對(duì)無薪勞動(dòng)問題召開全天跨學(xué)科會(huì)議,。
在4月27日的晚宴上,羅德斯基介紹了一家私人基金會(huì)公平政策研究所(Fair Play Policy Institute),,該基金會(huì)致力于研究和政策工作,,旨在讓更多人意識(shí)到尊重?zé)o薪勞動(dòng)的重要性。該項(xiàng)目的目標(biāo)是采取有意義的措施,,改變美國人的價(jià)值主張,,對(duì)在兒科診所陪孩子的時(shí)間與在董事會(huì)會(huì)議室里的相同時(shí)間賦予同樣的價(jià)值。
美國的許多社會(huì)福利都與就業(yè)掛鉤,,包括帶薪休假,、退休儲(chǔ)蓄和醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)等,這讓無薪勞動(dòng)者處于嚴(yán)重的劣勢(shì),。與此同時(shí),,如果沒有數(shù)百萬人花費(fèi)數(shù)百萬小時(shí)照顧老幼,美國就將陷入癱瘓,。這些工作雖然沒有薪酬,,但卻有重要的價(jià)值:美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局(Bureau of Economic Analysis)的評(píng)估顯示,在疫情初期將家庭生產(chǎn)添加到GDP,,將使GDP增長率提高三個(gè)百分點(diǎn),。
這種工作既然如此重要,為什么最開始被排除在GDP以外呢,?
八十年前,,英國的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家詹姆斯·米德和理查德·斯通設(shè)計(jì)了一種國民收入核算方法,并創(chuàng)造了國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)這個(gè)術(shù)語,,用于衡量購買和出售的商品與服務(wù)價(jià)值,。像現(xiàn)在一樣,,當(dāng)時(shí)就有一些激烈的批評(píng)聲音,認(rèn)為在國民收入核算中排除無薪勞動(dòng),,是嚴(yán)重的計(jì)算錯(cuò)誤,。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和人類學(xué)家們認(rèn)為,無薪勞動(dòng),,無論是發(fā)展中國家的撿柴火和打清水,,還是所有國家的養(yǎng)兒育女,都是國家經(jīng)濟(jì)成功從根本上必不可少的,。
米德和斯通的研究助理菲利斯·迪恩曾經(jīng)主張有必要在GDP中包含無薪家庭勞動(dòng),。但這兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家都對(duì)她的建議置若罔聞。1953年,,聯(lián)合國(United Nation)創(chuàng)建了第一個(gè)用于核算GDP的國民經(jīng)濟(jì)核算體系(System of National Accounts),,其中完全忽視了無薪家庭勞動(dòng)。該體系之后一直被經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和政策制定者作為判斷經(jīng)濟(jì)健康狀況的主要指標(biāo)之一,。
當(dāng)前的GDP核算沒有將無薪勞動(dòng)計(jì)算在內(nèi),,給數(shù)以百萬計(jì)的無薪勞動(dòng)者造成了一種隱藏稅,她們主要是照料家庭的女性,、居家的母親和女兒,,為了照顧子女或父母,她們不得不減少工作時(shí)間或者徹底離職,。有一項(xiàng)估算顯示,,家庭照料者的終生收入減少了30萬美元,這筆損失會(huì)使社會(huì)保險(xiǎn)供款,、養(yǎng)老金,、穩(wěn)定退休金等福利減少。
位于美國紐約州奧伊斯特灣的職業(yè)治療助理法伊思·拉希德曾經(jīng)習(xí)慣了長時(shí)間照顧他人,,而這些工作大都沒有報(bào)酬,。多年來,她會(huì)通勤30分鐘前往康復(fù)中心,,幫助患者重新學(xué)習(xí)走路,、穿襪子到使用馬桶等基本技能。下班回家后,,她要開始“第二次輪班”,,照顧年邁的父親,他患有四期轉(zhuǎn)移性肺癌,。但這一切在新冠疫情期間戛然而止,,因?yàn)闉榱舜_保家人不會(huì)感染新冠病毒,她辭去了有報(bào)酬的工作,。
與美國數(shù)百萬女性和越來越多需要照顧年邁父母的男性一樣,,照顧父親的重?fù)?dān)落在了拉希德的身上,,得不到任何報(bào)酬或經(jīng)濟(jì)支持。她之前的有償工作和照顧父親的工作內(nèi)容完全一樣,。但目前的GDP模型卻只計(jì)算了她提供有償護(hù)理的價(jià)值,。
對(duì)國民收入核算體系進(jìn)行如此大規(guī)模的修改是否可行?美國人口普查局的首席經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家,、主要從事護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)研究的米斯蒂·海格尼斯說:“這是完全可行的。問題是我們?cè)跉v史上從來沒有重視這個(gè)問題,?!?/p>
美國目前確實(shí)已經(jīng)有一個(gè)系統(tǒng)開始衡量無薪勞動(dòng):美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局。該部門與美國人口普查局合作衡量人口增長與趨勢(shì),。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們可以通過《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》(American Time Use Survey)的數(shù)據(jù)來分析人們?nèi)绾问褂米约旱臅r(shí)間,,從而能夠同時(shí)跟蹤有償工作和無薪勞動(dòng)。
海格尼斯解釋說:“這被稱為國民收入核算中的家庭生產(chǎn)核算,。核算所生成的替代GDP測(cè)量結(jié)果中包含了家庭生產(chǎn),。家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)和護(hù)理經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的部分問題在于,我們沒有強(qiáng)大的系統(tǒng)性衡量家庭活動(dòng)的傳統(tǒng)方法,?!?/p>
美國馬薩諸塞大學(xué)阿默斯特分校(University of Massachusetts-Amherst)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)榮譽(yù)教授南希·弗波萊稱,,經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)研究注重使用GDP等一致的指標(biāo),,讓各國可以跟蹤經(jīng)濟(jì)隨著時(shí)間推移出現(xiàn)的變化。弗波萊主張,,沒有必要調(diào)整GDP的組成部分,,更謹(jǐn)慎的做法是使用《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》的數(shù)據(jù),創(chuàng)建一個(gè)擴(kuò)大指標(biāo),,將無薪工作的價(jià)值考慮在內(nèi),。“擴(kuò)大GDP”為衡量國家健康狀況提供了一個(gè)更好的指標(biāo),,也能夠更準(zhǔn)確地評(píng)估全社會(huì)的表現(xiàn),。
弗波萊表示,這個(gè)指標(biāo)將展示“無薪工作對(duì)我們的生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和家庭成員的重要性,,例如我們的受撫養(yǎng)人,、子女、病人或殘疾人等,?!?/p>
將無薪勞動(dòng)納入GDP面臨的一些問題
但美國馬里蘭大學(xué)(University of Maryland)的知名教授、從事女性勞動(dòng)力參與研究的索納爾德·德賽認(rèn)為,,在將無薪勞動(dòng)納入GDP時(shí),,考慮到人們?nèi)〈峁┑谋憷?wù)所從事的工作,,可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)一些意想不到的問題。
德賽提到了發(fā)展中國家沒有自來水或穩(wěn)定燃料來源的例子,。如果男性和女性要步行數(shù)英里獲得清水或拾取柴火,,將這部分無薪勞動(dòng)添加到GDP,可能讓這個(gè)國家看起來比實(shí)際情況更富有,,但這并不準(zhǔn)確,。再比如,在美國,,家長下班后會(huì)幫助孩子補(bǔ)課,,彌補(bǔ)學(xué)校教育的不足。德賽說:“這些時(shí)間是有價(jià)值的,,但如果將這些價(jià)值添加到GDP當(dāng)中,,就會(huì)產(chǎn)生一種國家的生產(chǎn)總值更高的表象,但實(shí)際上掩蓋了國家未能提供優(yōu)質(zhì)學(xué)校的事實(shí),?!?/p>
德賽建議,不需要修改現(xiàn)有的GDP,,而是可以通過美國經(jīng)濟(jì)分析局和《美國時(shí)間使用調(diào)查》的衛(wèi)星賬戶,,更好地了解總體經(jīng)濟(jì)健康狀況。索拉爾表示,,可以對(duì)衛(wèi)星賬戶指定一個(gè)數(shù)值,,使無薪勞動(dòng)者能夠?qū)ι绫:屯诵莼鹱鞒鲐暙I(xiàn),或者休帶薪事假,。難度較大的部分在于如何結(jié)合市場(chǎng)成本和無薪勞動(dòng)者的經(jīng)驗(yàn)與教育水平,,為無薪勞動(dòng)確定恰當(dāng)?shù)墓べY。確定主要由女性承擔(dān)的護(hù)理工作的價(jià)值是一個(gè)復(fù)雜的問題,,美國至今依舊沒有解決,。這些工作主要由有色人種女性從事,工資較低,。
海格尼斯表示:“對(duì)于主要由女性承擔(dān)的所有無形工作,,美國社會(huì)從來沒有真正充分認(rèn)識(shí)到它們的價(jià)值。今天遭遇到的任何阻力,,多半是由于那些掌權(quán)者歷史上因?yàn)檫@些無形的工作獲得了好處,,他們依舊低估了這些工作對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)健康穩(wěn)健發(fā)展的真正貢獻(xiàn)?!?/p>
羅德斯基認(rèn)為,,使用一個(gè)主要由女性參與創(chuàng)建的更好的系統(tǒng),評(píng)估無薪勞動(dòng)的價(jià)值,,將為女性帶來更好的結(jié)果,。她說:“為什么知識(shí)不能變成力量,?我無法告訴你當(dāng)[無薪勞動(dòng)]被納入國民收入核算后會(huì)是一種什么情形,但我可以告訴你當(dāng)它被忽視的時(shí)候是什么樣子,。生育權(quán)受到抑制,。沒有帶薪休假。沒有兒童護(hù)理選擇,。這些工作不被納入GDP,,對(duì)我們有什么好處?情況還會(huì)變得更糟嗎,?我們倒不如嘗試一些新的做法,。”(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
本文作者瑞貝卡·加萊(Rebecca Gale)是新美國美好生活實(shí)驗(yàn)室(Better Life Lab at New America)的記者,,本篇報(bào)道得到了美好生活實(shí)驗(yàn)室的支持。
譯者:劉進(jìn)龍
審校:汪皓
In February 2020, about one month before the pandemic turned our family and work lives upside down, author and advocate Eve Rodsky sat on a panel at Davos and made an eerily prescient proclamation: Because of unpaid labor, our country was “one crisis away from losing 30 to 40 years of women’s economic participation in the workforce.”
Rodsky came to this conclusion based on years of her own research, survey and interviews with over 1,000 women about childcare. For most mothers, a caregiving emergency at home meant they would have to exit the workforce.
Just a month after Rodsky’s speech, when the global pandemic hit and schools closed, women found themselves facing a real-life catastrophe. They were disproportionately picking up more of the housework and childcare responsibilities while burning out trying to also do their wage-earning jobs. As a result, millions chose to leave the workforce altogether, and two years later, they have not fully returned.
This has created an unprecedented economic crisis that will likely have reverberations on society—and the economy—for decades, if not generations. Lost wages, lost retirement savings, lost opportunity.
But what if all that unpaid work counted for something? What if we assigned some monetary value to the caregiving work, or even included it as an input to the Gross Domestic Product? How would that change the structure of how women spend their time, how that time is valued, and how we view the country’s overall economic health?
Rodsky believes a more formal system of measuring unpaid work would lead to a different social contract, changing how we as a larger society see and value this crucial labor. This theory became the beginning of a campaign to bring this concept to the forefront—Unpaid Work in the GDP by 2030, which formally kicked off on April 28 night at the IWPR Power+ Summit in San Francisco.
For anyone following issues of women and the workplace, the attendees of the first in-person meeting reads like who’s who of care economy thought leadership: C. Nicole Mason, CEO of IWPR, who coined the term “she-cession,” Ai-jen Poo, co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Reshma Saujani, who crafted the Marshall Plan for Moms. Domestic economists and psychologists are also involved in the project, including Misty Heggeness from the U.S. Census and Darby Saxbe from USC. Following the April meeting, the official kickoff for the effort will be September 29-30, 2022 in Los Angeles, with an all-day multidisciplinary conference on unpaid labor.
At the dinner on April 27 night in San Francisco, Rodsky announced the Fair Play Policy Institute, a private foundation focused on research and policy work to raise awareness of the importance of valuing unpaid labor. The goal is to take meaningful action to change the value proposition in this country, to equate the time spent with a child in the pediatrician’s office with equal worth to time spent in a boardroom.
In the U.S. many social benefits are tied to employment, including paid time off, retirement savings, and healthcare coverage, and that puts those who perform unpaid labor at a significant disadvantage. At the same time, this country couldn’t function without millions of people putting in millions of hours to care for children and elderly. Even if it’s unpaid, this work has value: Estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that adding household production to the GDP during the onset of COVID would increase GDP growth rate by three percentage points.
So why is such vital work excluded from the GDP in the first place?
Just eighty years ago, British economists James Meade and Richard Stone devised a method of national income accounting and created the Gross Domestic Product, a way to measure goods and services bought and sold. Even then—as now—there were vocal critics who argued that excluding unpaid labor from this measurement was a grave miscalculation. Economists and anthropologists argued that unpaid labor, whether it be collecting firewood and hauling clean water in developing countries, or birthing and caring for children in literally every country, was fundamentally necessary to a nation’s economic success.
Phyllis Deane, Meade and Stone’s research assistant, argued for the need to include unpaid household labor in the GDP. Neither economist would heed her advice. In 1953, the United Nation’s first System of National Accounts for calculating GDP was created, a system that entirely ignored unpaid household labor. And ever since, it’s been one of the main indicators that economists and policymakers use to judge the health of the economy.
By failing to count unpaid work, the current GDP calculation creates a hidden tax on millions of unpaid workers—primarily caregiving women, the stay-at-home mothers and daughters who are forced to reduce hours or leave jobs to care for children or parents. One estimate shows family caregivers lose $300,000 in lifetime earnings, which cuts into social security contributions, pensions, stable retirements, and other benefits.
Faith Rashid, an occupational therapy assistant in Oyster Bay, N.Y., was used to long days of caregiving—much of it unpaid. For years, she commuted 30 minutes each way to the rehabilitation center where she worked with patients, helping them to relearn basic tasks from walking to putting on socks to using the toilet. Back home after work, she began her “second shift” caring for her elderly father who has stage four metastatic lung cancer. All of this ground to a halt during the pandemic, though, when she quit her paying job to make sure her household stayed COVID-free.
Like millions of women in the United States—and increasingly men with aging parents—the burden of her father’s care fell to Rashid—with no remuneration or economic support to show for it. She was performing the exact same work for both her paid job and for caring for her father. But our current model of GDP only counts her day of paid caregiving as valuable.
But is making such a major change to the national accounting system even plausible? “This is totally feasible,” says Misty Heggeness, principal economist for the U.S. Census who studies the care economy. “The problem is that we’ve never historically prioritized it.”
There is a current U.S. system that does measure unpaid labor already: the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the agency that works alongside the U.S. Census to measure population growth and trends. Data from the American Time Use Survey informs economists of how people spend their time, so it’s possible to track unpaid labor alongside paid work.
“It's called Accounting for Household Production in the National Accounts,” Heggeness explains. “They essentially generate these alternative GDP measures that incorporate household production. Part of the problem of household economics and economics of care is that we don’t have a strong traditional method of systemically measuring activity in a household.”
The study of economics values using consistent measures like GDP, which allow countries to track changes over time, explains Nancy Folbre, professor emerita of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Instead of adjusting the components of the GDP, Folbre argues that it would be more prudent to create an expanded measurement that takes into account the value of unpaid work, using the American Time Use Survey data. This “Expanded GDP” would give a better measure of the health and well-being of the country, and a more accurate measure of how society is faring.
This would show “how important unpaid work is to our living standard and for our family members who are dependent, children, sick, or experiencing disability,” says Folbre.
There are some issues to including unpaid labor in the GDP
But there can be unintended drawbacks to including unpaid labor in the GDP when it takes into account work that people are doing in place of government-provided amenities, argues Sonalde Desai, distinguished university professor at University of Maryland, who studies women’s labor force participation.
Desai cites the example of developing countries without piped water or stable fuel sources. If the unpaid labor required of the men and women who walk miles for clean water or to collect firewood were added to GDP, it would show a richer nation than is accurate. An example in the United States would be the work a parent does after hours to help a child make up for a failing school. “That time has a value, but if that value is added on to GDP that would create an image that it is producing a lot more, when it’s actually failing in providing good quality schools,” said Desai.
Instead of modifying the existing GDP, Desai recommends looking at the satellite accounts kept through BEA and the ATUS to get a better picture of overall economic health. These satellite accounts, says Solar, can be assigned a value so that unpaid laborers would be able to contribute to Social Security and retirement, or take paid family leave. The hard part would be coming up with an appropriate wage for the unpaid work, taking into account the market cost and the experience and education of the person doing the work. And valuing the care work that is done predominantly by women, often women of color who are paid low wages, is a complicated issue that the larger economy is still struggling with.
“Society has never actually fully valued all the invisible work women disproportionately engage in,” says Heggeness. “Any pushback today is probably due to those in power, who historically are advantaged by this invisible work, continuing to undervalue its real contributions to a healthy and robust economy.”
Rodsky believes that a better system to value unpaid work, predominantly done by women, will lead to better outcomes for women. “How can knowledge not be power?” she says. “I can’t tell you what it will look like when [unpaid labor] is measured, but I can tell you what it looks like when it’s not. Reproductive rights held back. No paid leave. Zero childcare options. What did it do for us not to have it in the GDP? Could it really get worse? We might as well try something new.”
Rebecca Gale is a reporting fellow with Better Life Lab at New America, from which support was provided for this reporting.