Namrata Sharma

As the pandemic progresses care economy has become more and more vital for the human race. However, it is not much debated nor given attention to. The economy in general has been hit hard by the pandemic. The poorest and the working class have been affected and hit hard having a negative impact on economic growth and livelihood opportunities.

“By care economy, I am referring to the sector of economy that is responsible for the provision of care and services that contribute to the nurturing and reproduction of current and future populations. More specifically, it involves child care, elder care, education, healthcare, and personal social and domestic services that are provided in both paid and unpaid forms and within formal and informal sectors,” says Ito Peng, the contributor researcher for Understanding and Measuring Care research cluster in an article published by Care Work and the Economy, Canada.

Scenario
In countries like Nepal, where health care is not provided through the welfare mechanism by the government to all its citizens, it will be interesting to see how the care economy has fared. The government hospitals are supposed to conduct PCR tests and treat the COVID -19 patients free of cost. However, many citizens do not avail of this. On the other, the private sector health providers do provide excellent healthcare services. However, the costs that the Nepalis need to bear for these services run in seven digits.

Traditionally the care economy is handled within families mainly by the women. Children, elderlies and all family members are nurtured and taken care of during ill health and in general mainly by the women members of the family. Men traditionally seen as providers manage the financial aspects. However, even after women have entered the lucrative salaried and industrial workforce and have started bringing in financial contributions within the households, the major care works within households are still managed by women.

Again in the developing world, this work goes unaccounted for and the economic and financial aspect is unrecorded. For example, in the private hospitals, the cost of attending to a patient in Intensive Care Unit comes to somewhere around 10-12 thousand rupees per day. The facilities and human services provided by home care givers set up as private sector health service providers charge around Rs 1500-3000 or more per day per staff as per their level of skills.

Although state of the art health care providers are available in Nepal, it is in reach of by only a fragment of the population. One of the learning of the pandemic that I have observed while I have been involved in health care and wellbeing of my own family members in different stages during the COVID -19 era is that now, more than ever, innovative policies are needed for the government to lay out a socialist approach to provide the necessary care for all citizens. It is important to actually look at what is the actual situation of the care economy in Nepal.

Sustainable and inclusive development requires gender-sensitive policy tools that integrate new understandings of care work and its connections with labour market supply and economic and welfare outcomes. Data shows that care work is one of the fastest growing economic sectors and a major driver of employment growth and economic development globally. According to Care Work and Economy Canada, across the OCED, the service sector economy now accounts for over 70 per cent of the total employment and GDP. In lower-and middle-income countries, it is estimated to comprise 60 per cent of the GDP. It is therefore a fact that within the service sector economy, care economy is one of the fastest growing economies.

Also according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the global employment in care jobs is expected to grow from 206 million to 358 million by 2030 based on the sociodemographic changes. ILO states that if governments invest resources to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal targets on education, health, long-term care and gender equality, this figure could rise to 475 million. In Canada, the service sector makes up for 75 per cent of the employment and 78 per cent of GDP. Within this healthcare, social assistance and education services are key drivers of the economic and employment growth. In the USA, healthcare is the largest employer even larger than steel and auto industries put together.

Evolving trend
All these facts show that the current and future economy is and will be increasingly dominated by the care services and care work all over the world. In Nepal too, this will probably be the trend. However, it is also a fact that much of the care work is done for no pay by family members, friends at home and in the communities globally and especially in countries like Nepal. This type of unpaid care work is not included in our national GDPs as GDPs only account work that is done for pay in the formal market.

It is therefore important to look at the unpaid work that goes into the care industry otherwise a large chunk of an import part of the national economies and economic activities will be missed out. The ongoing pandemic’s one major learning is that without paid and unpaid care work our economy will not be able to function and sustain well.

Health care and paid care work is putting a dent in the household savings of most Nepali citizens. Also many people are tied up in unpaid care of their family members, thus preventing them from earning for the family. Proper attention is required from policy makers and activists to recognise the importance of the care economy.

(Namrata Sharma is a journalist and women rights advocate. namrata1964@yahoo.com Twitter handle: NamrataSharmaP)