Buying time, doing family? Domestic outsourcing and time use in Sweden
Selassie, Betiel LU ; Dalman, Elien LU
; Eklund, Lisa
LU
and Nilsson, Therese
LU
(2026)
p.1-43
- Abstract
- Domestic outsourcing is often presented as a way to reduce unpaid work, ease work-family conflict, and promote gender equality. However, it remains unclear whether outsourcing domestic services changes how individuals divide their time between paid work, housework, childcare, and other forms of unpaid work. This paper examines the relationship between domestic outsourcing and time use in Sweden, a strong dual-earner context in which the RUT tax deduction subsidies half of domestic services costs. We link the 2021 Swedish Time Use Survey to administrative register data on household-level use of RUT services to reliably capture outsourcing incidence and intensity. This linkage allows us to examine ... (More)
- Domestic outsourcing is often presented as a way to reduce unpaid work, ease work-family conflict, and promote gender equality. However, it remains unclear whether outsourcing domestic services changes how individuals divide their time between paid work, housework, childcare, and other forms of unpaid work. This paper examines the relationship between domestic outsourcing and time use in Sweden, a strong dual-earner context in which the RUT tax deduction subsidies half of domestic services costs. We link the 2021 Swedish Time Use Survey to administrative register data on household-level use of RUT services to reliably capture outsourcing incidence and intensity. This linkage allows us to examine how domestic outsourcing associates with time spent on paid work and types of unpaid work, and how these associations differ by gender and parenthood status.
The results indicate that outsourcing associates with differences in time allocation above a relatively high threshold of regular use, but
that the relationship between outsourcing and time use depends on family type. Regular domestic outsourcing associates with a pattern consistent with time reallocation theory among individuals without resident children. Non-parenting men and women who regularly outsource spend substantially more time on paid work and less time on unpaid work than otherwise similar non-outsourcers. Reductions in unpaid work are concentrated in routine housework, the activity most directly substitutable. Among parents, by contrast, regular outsourcing does not associate with more time in paid work nor clear reductions in total unpaid work. Mothers show some reduction in routine housework, accompanied by increases in non-routine housework, while fathers in regularly outsourcing households do not spend less time on unpaid work, including routine housework.
The results suggest that domestic outsourcing cannot be understood simply as buying time for paid work. Among parents it may supplement rather than replace own unpaid work and may thus help sustain intensive combinations of employment, caregiving and other parts of domestic life. The analysis also reveals discrepancies between register-based and self-reported measures of outsourcing. The study contributes to research on gender, outsourcing, and work-family dynamics by showing that the meaning of “buying time” varies by gender and parenthood. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b577799a-9b2f-435e-8177-72b6baa4efa3
- author
- Selassie, Betiel
LU
; Dalman, Elien
LU
; Eklund, Lisa
LU
and Nilsson, Therese
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-06-16
- type
- Working paper/Preprint
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- domestic outsourcing, time use, paid and unpaid work, gender, parenthood
- pages
- 1 - 43
- publisher
- SocArXiv
- DOI
- 10.31235/osf.io/tp2ez_v1
- project
- Förändrade köns- och klassrelationer i kölvattnet av RUT och ROT-användning
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b577799a-9b2f-435e-8177-72b6baa4efa3
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-18 12:21:35
- date last changed
- 2026-06-18 13:07:43
@misc{b577799a-9b2f-435e-8177-72b6baa4efa3,
abstract = {{Domestic outsourcing is often presented as a way to reduce unpaid work, ease work-family conflict, and promote gender equality. However, it remains unclear whether outsourcing domestic services changes how individuals divide their time between paid work, housework, childcare, and other forms of unpaid work. This paper examines the relationship between domestic outsourcing and time use in Sweden, a strong dual-earner context in which the RUT tax deduction subsidies half of domestic services costs. We link the 2021 Swedish Time Use Survey to administrative register data on household-level use of RUT services to reliably capture outsourcing incidence and intensity. This linkage allows us to examine how domestic outsourcing associates with time spent on paid work and types of unpaid work, and how these associations differ by gender and parenthood status. <br/><br/>The results indicate that outsourcing associates with differences in time allocation above a relatively high threshold of regular use, but<br/>that the relationship between outsourcing and time use depends on family type. Regular domestic outsourcing associates with a pattern consistent with time reallocation theory among individuals without resident children. Non-parenting men and women who regularly outsource spend substantially more time on paid work and less time on unpaid work than otherwise similar non-outsourcers. Reductions in unpaid work are concentrated in routine housework, the activity most directly substitutable. Among parents, by contrast, regular outsourcing does not associate with more time in paid work nor clear reductions in total unpaid work. Mothers show some reduction in routine housework, accompanied by increases in non-routine housework, while fathers in regularly outsourcing households do not spend less time on unpaid work, including routine housework. <br/><br/>The results suggest that domestic outsourcing cannot be understood simply as buying time for paid work. Among parents it may supplement rather than replace own unpaid work and may thus help sustain intensive combinations of employment, caregiving and other parts of domestic life. The analysis also reveals discrepancies between register-based and self-reported measures of outsourcing. The study contributes to research on gender, outsourcing, and work-family dynamics by showing that the meaning of “buying time” varies by gender and parenthood.}},
author = {{Selassie, Betiel and Dalman, Elien and Eklund, Lisa and Nilsson, Therese}},
keywords = {{domestic outsourcing; time use; paid and unpaid work; gender; parenthood}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
note = {{Preprint}},
pages = {{1--43}},
publisher = {{SocArXiv}},
title = {{Buying time, doing family? Domestic outsourcing and time use in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/tp2ez_v1}},
doi = {{10.31235/osf.io/tp2ez_v1}},
year = {{2026}},
}