Paid work and unpaid help by caregivers of the disabled and frail elders

Abstract

Informal caregiving by women, and to a lesser extent by men, is a major source of assistance for the chronically disabled and most dependent older persons living in the community. However, because women's commitment to career employment may diminish, this source of help at the time when (according to demographic trends) the number of very old Americans will increase, the effect of employment on the time they devote to informal caregiving is an important social and economic issue. This study examines two related research questions: 1) how the time allocated to paid work affects the time devoted to unpaid caregiving and 2) how caregiving responsibilities affect work outside the home. The results differ for full-time and part-time work. Estimating a simultaneous equation model, it was found that 1) full-time employment by caregivers reduces the time they allocate to providing unpaid help by 20 hours a week and 2) female caregivers were much less likely than their male counterparts to have full-time jobs. Results also indicate that 1) part-time employment by caregivers has no statistically significant effect on caregiving and 2) caregiving has no effect on women's part-time employment.