Production and Transfers through Unpaid Work by Age and Gender: A Comparative Analysis of Austria, Italy and Slovenia

The rapid population ageing shifts the relation between age of individuals and their economic activity into the focus of policy makers and scientists. This interest asks for the introduction of the age dimension in economic data. National Transfer Accounts are an extension of the System of National Accounts by age and measure for each age group the generation of income, its redistribution across age groups as well as age-specific use of disposable income for consumption and saving. In this paper we extend the analysis further to unpaid work and distinguish also by gender. We estimate how much time each age group devotes to unpaid production activities and how the products and services emerging through these production activities are distributed across age and gender. We then compare the results for Austria, Italy and Slovenia. This analysis also shows that the working age population provides not only monetary transfers to other generations but, in particular to their children, also unpaid work in form of services produced. Unpaid work constitutes not only a transfer to other generations but also a transfer from women to men.