The lack of valuation of unpaid care costs the European Union 390 billion euros annually.
EconomyEuropean Union
- Error detected
- The claim attributes the €390 billion figure to the 'lack of valuation of unpaid care,' but this figure actually measures the cost of the gender employment gap — the economic loss resulting from women's lower employment rates compared to men. These are related but distinct phenomena.
The claim presents the €390 billion as a recurring annual cost of unpaid care devaluation, while the source data refers to the gender employment gap cost in a specific year (2023).
- Omissions
- The MEP conflates two distinct concepts: the gender employment/pay gap and the economic valuation of unpaid care work. While unequal distribution of unpaid care work is a major cause of the gender employment gap, the €390 billion figure does not measure the cost of failing to value unpaid care — it measures the macroeconomic cost of women's lower employment rates.
- The figure of €390 billion comes from Eurofound (published March 2025) and refers specifically to 2023 data, so the MEP's use of 'annually' (every year) is also imprecise — it is a single-year estimate, not necessarily a stable annual recurring cost.
- Separate academic estimates for the economic value of unpaid care across Europe exist (e.g. one study estimated €576 billion, approximately 3.63% of Europe's GDP), but these were not the basis for the figure cited.
- Sources
- PrimaryEurofound (via Mynewsdesk press release)Eurofound analysis of the gender employment gap in the EU shows that its cost was over €390 billion in 2023, corresponding to 2.3% of the EU's GDP.
- SecondaryEuropean Parliament Press RoomThe gender pay gap is defined as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women. It cost the EU €390 billion in 2023. The gender pension gap stood at 25% in 2023.
- SecondaryWageIndicator / EurofoundA longer-scale analysis, also conducted by Eurofound, shows that the cost of the gender employment gap was over €4 trillion in 2013-2023. The gender employment gap cost the EU €390 billion in 2023 alone.