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Baby Boomer caregivers in the workforce: Do they fare better or worse than their predecessors?

Author

Listed:
  • Josephine Jacobs
  • Courtney Van Houtven
  • Audrey Laporte
  • Peter Coyte
Abstract
Since the 1960's there have been substantial increases in women's labor force attachment. Meanwhile, increases in life expectancy and a shifting focus to care in community settings have increased the odds of becoming a caregiver. In light of these changes and the unpaid leave policies introduced in the 1990s to reduce this role strain, it is important to assess whether the labor market outcomes of caregivers have changed over time. We explored the impact of caregiving on women's labor force outcomes and whether this effect was different for women in the Baby Boomer generation versus women born in the pre-World War II years. Using data from the American National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Mature Women, we followed two cohorts of pre-retirement aged women at similar points in their careers. We used pooled and fixed-effects regressions and found that intensive informal caregiving was negatively associated with labor force participation for both pre-Baby Boomers and Baby Boomers. Further, the caregiving effects were not significantly different across cohorts. Caregiving was not significantly associated with the hours worked or wages. This study provides a first step in establishing that caregiving labor market penalties have persisted over time, despite the introduction of offsetting policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Josephine Jacobs & Courtney Van Houtven & Audrey Laporte & Peter Coyte, 2014. "Baby Boomer caregivers in the workforce: Do they fare better or worse than their predecessors?," Working Papers 140001, Canadian Centre for Health Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cch:wpaper:140001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Huamin Chai & Rui Fu & Peter C. Coyte, 2021. "Does Unpaid Caregiving Erode Working Hours Among Middle-Aged Chinese Adults?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 977-999, October.
    2. Huamin Chai & Rui Fu & Peter C. Coyte, 2021. "Unpaid Caregiving and Labor Force Participation among Chinese Middle-Aged Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Josephine Jacobs & Courtney Van Houtven & Audrey Laporte & Peter Coyte, 2014. "The Impact of Informal Caregiving Intensity on Women's Retirement in the United States," Working Papers 140008, Canadian Centre for Health Economics.
    4. Sandrine Juin, 2016. "Care for dependent elderly people : dealing with health and financing issues," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph16-02 edited by Thomas Barnay.
    5. Raab, Roman, 2017. "Retirement and Informal Care-giving: Behavioral Patterns among Older Workers," Working Papers 2017-08, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informal caregiving; unpaid caregiving; labor force participation; cohort; gender; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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