Both place and time are crucial when defining public policies in this sphere, as will be revealed throughout this analysis. The formal definition espoused by Thomas under the heading “unified concept of care” (see table 1) is useful for the analysis in this Social Panorama of Latin America as it looks at the care labour market and household spending on care services. This descriptive and empirical concept is based on the concrete manifestations of what is usually understood as people-centred services, whether in the public or the private sphere, in relation to seven dimensions (Thomas, 2011, pp.