The Care Board, KU-led site to gather information on care work's role in the economy, now live

LAWRENCE — The Care Board, an innovative project to gather information on work Americans do every day to provide care for their families, communities and selves, is now live. By showcasing this often overlooked labor, the project based at the University of Kansas aims to illustrate the critical economic significance of care work. 

The Care Board site has gathered official data from various government surveys and compiled statistics in a central location to help journalists, policymakers, researchers and others see the full breadth and economic value of care work that is done daily.

Work in the home to care for children or elderly family members may not always be considered part of the larger economy. But that labor, along with work to care for humans such as day cares, preschools, in-home care, nursing homes, janitorial services, nannies and more will all be reflected in The Care Board.

“We’ve done a lot of innovation in statistical data about what the care economy is. Our mission is to reveal the essential role of care work in sustaining families, communities and the broader economy,” said Misty Heggeness, associate professor of public affairs & administration and co-director of the Kansas Population Center in KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research. “It is a reflection of the invisible care work that people do but doesn’t get reported because it is often unpaid.”

The Care Board gathers economic data compiled through government agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau and programs including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), WIC, Medicare and Medicaid, and houses it on a dashboard to help users access data.

The project is supported by a two-year, $762,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and has received additional support from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Care Board includes tools such as “What is the Care Economy?” as well as “Circle of Care,” “Flow of Care,” “Broader Impacts” and “Methodology and Data.” The tools can gather data and provide statistical information, including innovative visuals that tell a unique story of the care economy. For example, in the Broader Impacts section, users can find macroeconomic information such as the percentage of able-bodied Americans who engage in three or more hours of care per day. The Flow of Care tool reveals how generations vary in their care needs, ability to provide care and time spent doing care work. The tool looks at generations in the life span from early ages to 24, 25 to 64 and from age 65 on.

The site will also help users quantify the economic value of care work done each day. If the amount of work such as cooking, cleaning, bathing and caring for others were paid a minimum wage, it would generate at least $4 billion per day in economic activity, said Heggeness, principal investigator of the project. Phase one of the project will include all national data, and phase two will ultimately allow users to access data and build graphs and maps on care work at a state level. Users can also use data and build interactive graphics to learn how much care is provided by women, or how much time parents — both mothers and fathers — spend on specific care activities and learn about care happening now, in the past or how trends have changed over time or by region.

“We can see where we stand today versus yesterday and how well aligned we are with needs of care and our ability to provide it. We are mapping the number of beds needed for nursing home care in a given area, how many are available and if they are equally distributed,” she said.

The goal of The Care Board is to help demonstrate the essential role caregiving plays as part of the larger American economy and the importance of including the work in social and economic policy.

“Historically, national income and product accounts that measure economic output such as gross domestic product have ignored the value of uncompensated care produced in the home,” said Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts and Regents Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research. “The Care Board is the first and essential step to addressing this historical oversight and to measuring the role of care in economy.”

Heggeness reiterated the importance of convening data on the care economy data in a central location to help viewers understand how care’s intersection with the larger economy can help inform better social, health and family care and policy decisions such as supporting affordable child care. Moreover, access to the data can help illustrate the enormous amount of work being done every day to care for families and communities and how American citizens, especially women, are doing unrecognized work that influences their contributions to the larger economy, she said. 

And while policymakers, legislators, community leaders, journalists and academics will benefit from access to this information, it can be beneficial to the public as well, Heggeness said.

“This data, I feel, has become more accessible to the average person. It’s still true journalists can come to The Care Board for data, but the average person can come here and learn about the huge magnitude of care work happening every day. I think a lot of people will see themselves reflected in this data,” Heggeness said. “It’s a part of our communities that has been invisible for so long. It’s been a joy to be able to shine a light on this important work done every day, often without remuneration. Up until now we haven’t really had statistics to understand this work. With this, we can tell a fuller, more accurate story about the care economy.”

For more information on how to best use the tool, check out the blog post here.