WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTAJ) — With Mother's Day on Sunday, Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) issued a statement recognizing the unpaid work predominantly performed by women and calling upon other government officials to formally acknowledge these roles as a critical component to U.S. economic health.

The International Labour Office reports that women in America spend nearly four and a half hours on unpaid work tasks per day whereas men spend an average of about two and a half hours doing the same work per day. A 2023 study conducted by the White House Council of Economic Advisers also found that over two million women dropped out of the labor force during the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly due to childcare demands.

Citing cooking, cleaning and the caretaking as necessary yet often invisible responsibilities, Sen. Casey, who serves as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requesting the agency conduct an inquiry to quantify the contributions of unpaid roles filled by women.

Sen. Casey said these contributions are currently omitted from most calculations of the U.S.'s economic output, despite their critical importance.

"Without a formal accounting of unpaid work, it remains invisible and undervalued," Sen. Casey wrote in the letter. "Although such work is critical to supporting the Nation's children, older adults, and people with disabilities, it is often downplayed and undercut. Attributing value to care, domestic, and reproductive work can help recognize this work as important contributions to households and the economy."

Sen. Casey has specifically requested the GAO investigate and evaluate the economic value of women's and men's unpaid work and the worth of these contributions in terms of gross domestic domestic product, what demographic characteristics are known about the people who perform unpaid work and what are the implications of any gaps in the understanding of the value of this work for policymakers and the oversight of federal programs.