Time use surveys are an important source of information in developing a system for the evaluation of unwaged work. The CSO carried out a small scale pilot survey of some 300 households, involving nearly 1,000 respondents, in June this year. This involved the collection of general demographic information and the completion by household members of a time use diary in respect of two days. The information collected in the survey is being analysed and the CSO hopes to issue a report early in 1998 on the results of the pilot survey and on the feasibility and cost of conducting a large scale national time use survey.
In the national accounts area, the CSO's priority is to extend the range of data available at present to comply with the full detail of the core EU national accounting system. This is a legal requirement under EU law and is also necessary in the context of EMU.
The measurement of unwaged work is not part of the core national accounts. This is dealt with in satellite accounts which are used to extend the core system to provide information on topics where the estimation methods are not developed enough to allow their inclusion in the main system. In conducting the pilot time use survey, the CSO has taken an important step in this area and will continue to monitor the research and development work being undertaken internationally to evaluate unwaged work.