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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Western Australia 20% 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 Western 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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Hours spent on unpaid domestic work | Number | % | Victoria % | Number | % | Victoria % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Did unpaid domestic work | 1,463,678 | 67.9 | 67.2 | 1,387,281 | 69.4 | 68.4 | +76,397 |
| Less than 5 hours | 447,351 | 20.8 | 19.9 | 447,727 | 22.4 | 23.3 | -376 |
| Between 5 and 14 hours | 583,533 | 27.1 | 27.1 | 521,734 | 26.1 | 25.4 | +61,799 |
| Between 15 and 29 hours | 245,381 | 11.4 | 11.8 | 228,251 | 11.4 | 11.0 | +17,130 |
| 30 hours or more | 187,413 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 189,569 | 9.5 | 8.6 | -2,156 |
| Did no unpaid domestic work | 534,035 | 24.8 | 26.8 | 423,562 | 21.2 | 23.2 | +110,473 |
| Not stated | 156,545 | 7.3 | 6.1 | 186,888 | 9.4 | 8.4 | -30,343 |
| Total persons aged 15+ | 2,154,258 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,997,731 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +156,527 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the unpaid domestic work performed by the population in Western Australia in 2021 compared to Victoria shows that there was a similar proportion of persons who performed 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work per week.
Overall, 20% of the population reported performing 15 hours or more of unpaid domestic work, compared with 20.1% for Victoria.
The major differences between the share of the population performing unpaid domestic work in Western Australia and Victoria were:
- A larger percentage of persons who did less than 5 hours of domestic work (20.8% compared to 19.9%)
- A larger percentage of persons who did unpaid domestic work (total) (67.9% compared to 67.2%)
- A smaller percentage of persons who did no unpaid domestic work (24.8% compared to 26.8%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the number of people performing unpaid domestic work in Western Australia, between 2016 and 2021 were those who:
- Did no unpaid domestic work (+110,473 persons)
- Did unpaid domestic work (+76,397 persons)
- Between 5 and 14 hours (+61,799 persons)
- Between 15 and 29 hours (+17,130 persons)
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