The employment costs of caregiving in Norway

Do older parents' assistance needs deter parent-child geographic divergence in Norway?

The role of intergenerational geographic proximity in individuals' migration decisions has been well-established. The circumstances under which parents and their adult children move away from or remain close to each other are, however, less clear. Drawing on Norwegian register data for 2014-2016 and three-level logistic regression models, we examine whether formal care needs of older parents (aged ≥65) deter parent-child geographic divergence and whether variation in the likelihood of divergence is associated with municipal-level characteristics. After accounting for location-specific capital and parents' and children's sociodemographic characteristics, parents and children were less likely to diverge after the onset of parental care needs. Utilising in-home nursing decreased the likelihood of divergence for mothers while utilising institutionalised care decreased the likelihood of divergence for fathers. The use of in-home nursing care among single mothers further reduced the likelihood of divergence. Parents and adult children living in central areas were the least likely to diverge geographically. The likelihood of intergenerational divergence was lower for fathers and children living in municipalities with high healthcare spending.

Aging, Dependence, and Long-Term Care: A Systematic Review of Employment Creation

Population aging is an economic and social challenge in most countries in the world as it generates higher dependency rates and increased demand for long-term care. Undertaking the care of older dependent adults can result in new opportunities for job creation. There is limited knowledge of the impact of dependent care and long-term care on employment. We examined this impact through a systematic review. Countries with conditional cash benefits show job creation, and countries with unconditional economic benefits reveal the development of a grey care market with high participation of migrant labor. Migrant employment in developed countries affects the development of the labor market in the countries of origin. The employment created to care for dependent persons is generally precarious. In conclusion, global aging will increase long-term care worker demand, but the variations in policies can determine what kind of employment is created.

Transitions in Labour Force Participation over the Palliative Care Trajectory

BACKGROUND

Home-based palliative programs rely on family caregivers, who often miss time from employment. This article identified changes in caregivers' labour force participation over the palliative trajectory.

METHODS

Family caregivers (n = 262) were interviewed biweekly to measure transitions across four employment categories.

RESULTS

More than half of the caregivers had one employment transition and 29% had three or more. The highest proportion of transitions occurred for caregivers who were employed part-time.

INTERPRETATION

Understanding these transitions is critical to the development of strategies tailored to caregivers to contain labour force losses and to support caregivers during a time of high caregiving demands.

The Impact of Informal Caregiving on Labour Supply Before and After a Parent’s Death

Most European countries are facing an ageing population, which points to a need for having as many people as possible of employable age working full time. The growing number of older people increases the pressure on health and care services as well as on family caregivers. Adult children are important care-providers in their parents’ final years. This study investigates how having a parent in need of care affects sons’ and daughters’ labour market participation. The question is investigated by analysing longitudinal data from the Norwegian life course, ageing and generation study. The empirical strategy is first to use register information about parents’ demise as an indicator for amplified care needs in the period prior to their death and explore patterns in labour market participation (employment and earnings) before and after the death of a parent. Then, register data are combined with survey data in order to separate caregivers from non-caregivers prior to the loss of a parent. The analyses show a negative employment trend in the years before and after the loss of a lone parent. They also show a different development in earnings between caregivers and non-caregivers. Caregivers have a weaker development in earnings both before and after the death of their parent compared to non-caregivers. The study concludes that caring for older parents has a negative impact on the children’s labour market participation in both the period with substantial caregiving needs and the period following the parents’ demise.

New Evidence on Employment Effects of Informal Care Provision in Europe

OBJECTIVE

To estimate how labor force participation is affected when adult children provide informal care to their parents.

DATA SOURCE

Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe from 2004 to 2013.

STUDY DESIGN

To offset the problem of endogeneity, we exploit the availability of other potential caregivers within the family as predictors of the probability to provide care for a dependent parent. Contrary to most previous studies, the dataset covers the whole working-age population in the majority of European countries. Individuals explicitly had to opt for or against the provision of care to their care-dependent parents, which allows us to more precisely estimate the effect of caregiving on labor force participation.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Results reveal a negative causal effect that indicates that informal care provision reduces labor force participation by 14.0 percentage points (95 percent CI: -0.307, 0.026). Point estimates suggest that the effect is larger for men; however, this gender difference is not significantly different from zero at conventional levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Results apply to individuals whose consideration in long-term care policy is highly relevant, that is, children whose willingness to provide informal care to their parents is altered by available alternatives of family caregivers.

Careful in the Crisis? Determinants of Older People's Informal Care Receipt in Crisis-Struck European Countries

Macroeconomic downturns can have an important impact on the receipt of informal and formal long-term care, because recessions increase the number of unemployed and affect net wealth. This paper investigates how the market for informal care changed during and after the Great Recession in Europe, with particular focus on the determinants of care receipt. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, which includes a rich set of variables covering waves before and after the Great Recession. We find evidence of an increase in the availability of informal care after the economic downturn when controlling for year and country fixed effects. This trend is mainly driven by changes in care provision of individuals not cohabiting with the care recipient. We also find evidence of several determinants of informal care receipt changing during the crisis - such as physical needs, personal wealth, and household structures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Feeling the squeeze? The effects of combining work and informal caregiving on psychological well-being

Does employment provide respite or add stress to caregivers? As a result of population aging and increasing female employment rates, growing numbers are facing the competing demands of paid work and caregiving. This study explores the effect of providing regular personal care by employment status on six dimensions of psychological well-being. We concentrate on partner and parent care recipients and differentiate between in-household and out-of-household caregiving. We use cross-sectional data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation study (n = 11,047, age 25-64). Results indicate that out-of-household caregiving has no significant relationship with men or women's well-being, irrespective of employment status. In-household caregiving, however, relates to lower psychological well-being, but only among women who do not work full-time. The advantages of full-time employment to caregivers may be due to greater opportunity to achieve the full benefits that this role has to offer. There is little to suggest that combining work and caregiving harms well-being. In fact, a "double burden" seems to be experienced by women who combine extensive caregiving with limited employment.