The values are calculated in the same way as for value of household work. Under the general term “voluntary work” one usually summarizes voluntary activities in the proper sense (outside the household) as well as informal help for other household (like neighborhood assistance). For the component “value of voluntary work” calculated here we use the category “voluntary work and informal help” (Ehrenamt und informelle Hilfen”) form the time-budget surveys.
The methodological problems are in turn similar to the household production. One can expect that the valuation with the “generalist approach” and minimum wage for the voluntary work component leads to an even greater undervaluation compared to the household work issue, since the relevant activities are more diverse and sometimes complex. A more realistic (higher) result for the voluntary work would likely be obtained by using the “specialist approach” for calculation. However, due to the complexity of the required data collection this approach is so far not pursued any further.