Work, Family and Care for Adults Older Americans constitute the fastest growing population group. Between 1870 and 1990, the U.S. population increased six fold, while the population of Americans 65 years old and older increased twenty-seven fold. The impact is great both on the absolute number of older people and on the proportion of the total population they represent. In the United States, 12.4 percent of the population is currently over the age of 65, a proportion which is projected to reach 20 percent by 2030. Older individuals live extremely varied lives. Some are in superb health, continuing to lead a physically and mentally active life. Some continue working for pay or caring for children. Yet, because of chronic conditions or disabilities, others face significant limitations in the work they can do, the care they can provide to others, or the extent to which they can manage their daily lives themselves. Despite the widely held belief that extended families fill many of the voids left by the absence of quality affordable child care, we found that extended-family members are available to help with caregiving in only a minority of American families. In an analysis we conducted using data from a national survey, we found that nearly eight out of 10 working parents reported that they did not receive unpaid assistance from their parents. While some grandparents are able to take care of some of their grandchildren, others are too tired, too busy caring for multiple people at the same time, or, as is increasingly common, working full-time. Currently, half of American grandparents are younger than 60, and the majority of these are in the labor force. The average age at which Americans become grandparents for the first time is 47, and among people that age, 75 percent of women and 89 percent of men are in the labor force. As more and more grandparents continue to support themselves through paid work, the extent to which they are able to regularly care for grandchildren diminishes. Furthermore, older family members may be in need of assistance themselves. Frequently, grandparents who once were well enough to help care for their children’s children develop health problems as they age that prevent them from providing further assistance. Our studies found that nearly four out of ten working Americans were providing unpaid assistance to their own parents; half of these were providing the equivalent of one or more day a month. When emotional support was included as assistance, seven out of ten working Americans provided support to their parents each month, with half of these providing one or more days a month. In the past, the majority of elder care has been unpaid and has been performed by family members. With dramatically more men and women in the paid labor force, there will be significantly fewer adult children at home available to care for the health and daily needs of retired older Americans. If left unaddressed, the new caregiving gap will have serious negative consequences for older individuals and families. For more information, please see: Heymann SJ. The Widening Gap: Why Working Families Are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Back to U.S. Initiatives
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