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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Regional Australia 22% of the population over 15 did more than 14 hours of housework each week in 2021.
There has been increased interest in identifying, acknowledging and valuing the unpaid work that supports home and community life. The changing amount of time spent on unpaid housework in different Household Types and, particularly the distribution of this work within the household, can indicate the changing roles of males, females and older children in society. The level of unpaid domestic work in Regional Australia may also be related to Household Income, as higher income households are able to outsource some of these tasks.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'In the last week did the person spend time doing unpaid domestic work for their household?'
| Unpaid domestic work | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Australia - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Hours spent on unpaid domestic work | Number | % | Canberra % | Number | % | Canberra % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Did unpaid domestic work | 4,660,324 | 68.1 | 75.4 | 3,858,393 | 70.1 | 78.5 | +801,931 |
| Less than 5 hours | 1,283,245 | 18.7 | 23.0 | 1,048,435 | 19.1 | 25.6 | +234,810 |
| Between 5 and 14 hours | 1,846,367 | 27.0 | 33.1 | 1,318,963 | 24.0 | 30.4 | +527,404 |
| Between 15 and 29 hours | 879,785 | 12.9 | 12.7 | 731,952 | 13.3 | 13.4 | +147,833 |
| 30 hours or more | 650,927 | 9.5 | 6.6 | 759,034 | 13.8 | 9.1 | -108,107 |
| Did no unpaid domestic work | 1,626,933 | 23.8 | 19.9 | 1,078,720 | 19.6 | 14.6 | +548,213 |
| Not stated | 556,801 | 8.1 | 4.7 | 563,198 | 10.2 | 6.9 | -6,397 |
| Total persons aged 15+ | 6,844,058 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 5,500,302 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,343,756 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the unpaid domestic work performed by the population in Regional Australia in 2021 compared to Canberra shows that there was a higher proportion of persons who performed 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work per week.
Overall, 22% of the population reported performing 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work, compared with 19.3% for Canberra.
The major differences between the share of the population performing unpaid domestic work in Regional Australia and Canberra were:
- A larger percentage of persons who did no unpaid domestic work (23.8% compared to 19.9%)
- A smaller percentage of persons who did unpaid domestic work (total) (68.1% compared to 75.4%)
- A smaller percentage of persons who did between 5 and 14 hours of domestic work (27.0% compared to 33.1%)
- A smaller percentage of persons who did less than 5 hours of domestic work (18.7% compared to 23.0%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the number of people performing unpaid domestic work in Regional Australia, between 2006 and 2021 were those who:
- Did unpaid domestic work (+801,931 persons)
- Did no unpaid domestic work (+548,213 persons)
- Between 5 and 14 hours (+527,404 persons)
- Less than 5 hours (+234,810 persons)
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