• Balancing Work and Caregiving

    How do Americans navigate being a caregiver while also working?

    Family and friends provide much of the care for Americans 65 and older who require at least some support with daily activities. Nearly two-thirds have had to balance work with providing that care, according to an AP-NORC Center survey of Americans 40 and older with experience with long-term care. About 47 percent are having difficulty doing so. This AP-NORC Center video interactive explores how caregivers balance work and caregiving.

  • 3 in 10 working caregivers are concerned about job security

    Seventy percent of working caregivers have had to miss work to provide care. Thinking about the care needs of their loved ones, 65 percent of caregivers who missed work to provide care feel they had enough time off, but 34 percent say it was not enough. Although most caregivers who have missed work to provide care are not concerned about their job security, 3 in 10 working caregivers are concerned they could lose their job because of their caregiving responsibilities.

    Percent of caregivers who feel the amount of time they took away from work was not enough time off to provide care…

    • Enough time off

    • Don’t know

    • Not enough time off

    Percent of caregivers who were concerned about the amount of time they took off from work to provide care…

    • Was not concerned

    • Concerned it was too much time off

  • A majority of working caregivers have to change their schedule or leave the workforce entirely

    While some caregivers modify their work schedules to accommodate their caregiving responsibilities, others decide to leave the workforce entirely.

      Percent of working caregivers who did the following to change their work schedule in order to provide care to an aging family member or close friend…

    • I changed the days or hours I worked

      38%

    • I retired early

      10%

    • I quit my job

      9%

    • I switched from full-time to part-time

      8%

    Thirty-eight percent of working caregivers have changed the days or hours they work to provide care, and 8 percent have switched from full-time to part-time schedules. Other caregivers decide to leave the workforce earlier than planned. Nine percent have quit a job, and 10 percent have retired early in order to provide care to an aging friend of family member.

  • Conclusion

    As the U.S. population ages and the demand for long-term care continues to grow, meeting the needs of working caregivers is a pressing question with implications for the lives of caregivers, care recipients, employers, and the nation’s economy.

    For some working caregivers, the task of juggling their jobs with caring for a loved one can be difficult. Many have to miss work to provide care, and they rely on sick days, vacation time, or even unpaid time off to do so.

    Although about half say their employer has been supportive of their caregiving role, 2 in 10 say they have not felt supported. And some working caregivers have experienced serious repercussions at work: 10 percent were treated differently by management or coworkers, 8 percent were excluded from further job growth opportunities, 7 percent had their roles or responsibilities changed, and in rare cases, some even report being fired or asked to resign as a result of their caregiving duties.

    Understanding how caregivers balance work and care is critical as businesses and governments attempt to balance the needs of caregivers and their employers.

    Methodology

    The AP-NORC Center conducted this study with funding from The SCAN Foundation. The poll includes 1,004 interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans age 40 and older with experience with long-term care from the AmeriSpeak® Panel. The sample also includes 772 adults age 40 and older who are currently providing care or have provided it in the past, and have never received care. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.7 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, including the design effect. Among caregivers, the margin of sampling error is +/- 4.2 percentage points. Study details are available at www.apnorc.org.