The World According to Cachia

A recent report commissioned by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) identified how we (as people) spend our time… On average we spend one third of our day working (paid or unpaid), no real surprise there!. It seems however that half of our time is taken up with personal care (eating, sleeping etc…), which sadly only leaves a few hours for leisure!!!

Interestingly, although Australians seem to spend a little less time in paid work (as compared to International trends), we have done better when it comes to performing ‘unpaid’ work. Seems we average about 4 hours of unpaid work (each day), which is the third highest in the OECD. Other interesting statistics include:-

-          3.5 is the average hours of unpaid work performed (per day) across the OECD;

-          46% is the value of Australian unpaid work as a percentage of gross domestic product;

-          26 minutes is the average [daily] time spent (unpaid) caring for other household members – this is the OECD average;

-          45 minutes is the average [daily] time spent by Australians (unpaid) caring for others. This is the third highest in the OECD;

This report, however has identified that the Mexicans those that work the longest hours as they average 10 hours (both paid and unpaid) per day. This compared to the OECD average of eight hours (per day).

And finally, given my penchant for food, I might move to Turkey, as they spend some 74 minutes per day preparing/cooking food. The OECD average is 50 minutes per day, but our American friends devote only 30 minutes to cooking!