Household Production and Consumption in Finland 2001

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8.3 Development needs The data produced by the Household Satellite Account constitute an extensive cross-sectional material and as such provide a good picture of the extent of household production. As is the case all economic statistics, here also it is important to know the direction and pace of development. Time series are crucial to systematic monitoring the development of household production and its relationship to the rest of the national economy. It would be particularly important to monitor the development of households’ own production versus the use of purchased services in different principal functions, because shifts in production have a major impact on business and industry, employment and services provided by the public sector. Ageing people who live in the community need care, which is now mainly produced by spouses or other relatives. Population ageing may well increase the demand for purchased services. Shopping and services as well as travel and transport related to unpaid work seem to be on the increase. These developments describe the impacts of the social structure and infrastructure on households. The aim now is to compile household satellite accounts on a regular basis at five-year intervals or more often, for example whenever a household budget survey produces new data on changes in consumption and whenever new time use studies are conducted. Since habits of time use are relatively slow to change, and since time use studies are carried out less frequently than household budget surveys, it might be possible in the interim to use earlier data on time use that are adjusted according to changes in household structure and to update the consumption data. Some revisions in the classifications used in the source materials would be helpful. First, it would be useful to classify the use of market and public services substituting household production by principal function (food, care, laundry, cleaning and repair services). Use of these services was still at a low level in 2001 but it is now set to increase as a result of new tax deduction rules and changes in attitudes towards using market services. Furthermore, it would be useful to be able more fully to include public sector taxes and subsidies on household production. The present calculations have taken account of home care allowances and parents’ allowances as well as certain taxes (real estate tax, vehicle and dog tax, fishing licence fees). However, services such as childcare and the care of the frail elderly are heavily subsidised from the public purse. Living in rented accommodation is supported by a housing allowance and owner-occupied accommodation by tax deductions. Conducting separate studies to determine the shares of these subsidies and their impacts on household production might be a good way to clarify the role of public sector on households’ economic behaviour. In the future, we also wish to be able to use output method to determine the value of production. That would provide important comparative data both on value added and on the competitiveness of household production relative to market production. In the present calculation labour was valued on the basis of the gross wage of housekeeper (ISCO 51331). Whatever the choice of wage, National Consumer Research Centre Statistics Finland 73
however, it is always open to criticism because there is no such thing as a “correct” equivalent market wage. The combined use of the input and output methods, whereby the mixed income obtained by the output method is divided by the number of hours spent in work, yields a reference hourly wage. The team that compiled the UK Household Account in 2000 was in the position to use this approach. The results show that this “hourly wage” varies widely from one task-group to another. For comparative purpose it is important to take careful stock of which items are included in intermediate consumption in each of the methods because in the output method, the value of intermediate consumption goods and services has a direct bearing on value added. Kristiina Aalto has calculated hourly wages for laundry washed at home on the basis of the number of kilogrammes of laundry and the cost of professional laundry services (Varjonen & Aalto 2005). The results show that the hourly wage is higher than when calculated on the basis of inputs. Doing the laundry is a task that can be done in households with quite considerable efficiency using automatic washing machines. Therefore it will not easily move to the market sector. In this Satellite Account housing has been approached as a single entity, without distinguishing between space used for unpaid work and leisure activities or sleeping. When the output method is used, this entity must be divided into different parts because the price of the market commodity corresponding to the output also includes facilities, e.g. meals consumed in a restaurant include kitchen and dining area costs. In the future leisure activities could be included as an extension to the Satellite Account. Then, living spaces in leisure use could also be allocated to their own principal function, as could acquisitions, travel etc. intended for leisure activities. That would help to complement the picture of economic activities in households with respect to leisure production and consumption. 74 Statistics Finland National Consumer Research Centre
Page 1 and 2:
Johanna Varjonen - Kristiina Aalto
Page 3 and 4:
Tiedustelut - Förfrågningar - Inq
Page 5 and 6:
On behalf of Statistics Finland and
Page 7 and 8:
Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . .
Page 9 and 10:
Figure 11 Shopping and travel relat
Page 11 and 12:
Summary The Household Satellite Acc
Page 13 and 14:
2 Definitions and boundaries Househ
Page 15 and 16:
3 Methods and their development In
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4 Household satellite account 2001
Page 19 and 20:
Data from the National Accounts Nat
Page 21 and 22:
Different studies have applied diff
Page 23 and 24: Table 3. Household capital goods, e
Page 25 and 26: 4.3 Principal functions of househol
Page 27 and 28: Travel and services related to hous
Page 29 and 30: food obtained through hunting, fish
Page 31 and 32: 5 Value ofhousehold production 5.1
Page 33 and 34: Structure ofproduction The focus in
Page 35 and 36: In other calculations shown in this
Page 37 and 38: Figure 2. Household production by p
Page 39 and 40: In the Satellite Account, however,
Page 41 and 42: The eating of snacks has become inc
Page 43 and 44: Care ofchildren and adults Childcar
Page 45 and 46: Volunteer work As the name implies,
Page 47 and 48: Shopping, services and travel relat
Page 49 and 50: Table 9. Percentage of household ty
Page 51 and 52: Figure 14. SNA and non-SNA househol
Page 53 and 54: When looking at income quintiles, t
Page 55 and 56: Examples of final consumption produ
Page 57 and 58: 45 and families with schoolchildren
Page 59 and 60: Figure 23. Volunteer work by type o
Page 61 and 62: 6.3 Conclusions by type ofhousehold
Page 63 and 64: 7 Integrating household production
Page 65 and 66: Production for own use accounts for
Page 67 and 68: million euros From household sector
Page 69 and 70: 8 Discussion ofthe results and need
Page 71 and 72: Shopping, running errands and relat
Page 73: The data were well suited for the c
Page 77 and 78: Holloway S, Short S, Tamplin S (200
Page 79 and 80: Varjonen J, Aalto K, Leskinen J (20
Page 81 and 82: Appendix 2. Principles for the clas
Page 83 and 84: Appenndix 3 (cont.) Principal Categ
Page 91 and 92: Appenndix 3 (cont.) Childcare and c
Page 93 and 94: Appenndix 3 (cont.) Shopping and se
Page 95 and 96: Appendix 5. Housing services produc
Page 97 and 98: Appendix 7. Production and income g
Page 99 and 100: Appendix 7 (cont.) PERSONS LIVING A
Page 101 and 102: Appendix 7 (cont.) COUPLES, 45-64 y
Page 103 and 104: Appendix 7 (cont.) SINGLE-PARENT FA
Page 105 and 106: Appendix 7 (cont.) FAMILIES WITH CH
Page 107 and 108: Appendix 7 (cont.) I-QUINTILE Milli
Page 109 and 110: Appendix 7 (cont.) III-QUINTILE Mil
Page 111 and 112: Appendix 7 (cont.) V-QUINTILE Milli
Page 113 and 114: Appendix 9. Sequence of extended ac
Page 115 and 116: Table 3. Household production as pa
Page 117: Kuluttajatutkimuskeskus Konsumentfo
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Household Production and Consumption in Finland 2001

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