Comprehensive Calculator Guide
This calculator puts a market value on unpaid work at home, such as cooking, cleaning, childcare and caring for elderly relatives, by multiplying the hours by the going rate for similar paid work. 35 hours a week at SAR 30 an hour is worth SAR 4,550 a month and 54,600 a year. It can’t capture the worth of care and upbringing, but it shows the size of the effort.
Valuing the hour
The usual method is replacement cost: what you’d pay a housekeeper, nanny, cook or driver. Another uses the wage the person could earn in a job, which usually gives a higher figure.
Unpaid work isn’t counted in GDP, though UN Women puts its value at 10–39% of GDP in many countries, and the ILO estimates women do about three quarters of unpaid care work worldwide.
How to Use
- Enter the hours of housework per week.
- Enter an hourly value at the local market rate.
- Press “Work out the value” to see the weekly, monthly and yearly value.
Formula Used
Weekly = hours × rate | Monthly = weekly × 52 ÷ 12 | Yearly = weekly × 52
Practical Examples
- Example 1
- 35 hours at SAR 30: 1,050 a week, 4,550 a month, 54,600 a year over 1,820 hours.
- Example 2: a mother of three
- 50 hours at SAR 25: 1,250 a week, about 5,417 a month, 65,000 a year.
Important Tips
- Log a full week before calculating.
- Share tasks across the family.
- Use the figure to talk about sharing the load, not to keep score.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Counting overlapping tasks twice.
- Using a rate far from the local market.
- Treating the figure as the full worth of care.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I value an hour of housework?
- At what you’d pay someone to do the same work locally, or at the wage you could earn instead.
- Is housework part of GDP?
- No; some countries estimate it in separate satellite accounts.
- How many hours does housework take?
- It varies widely; a mother of young children can exceed 50 hours a week.