Informal caregiving has a significant impact on working life. Caregivers earn less per hour and are less satisfied with their jobs, according to research from Radboud University. As more people become informal caregivers, the researcher argues it’s time for structural support.
In our aging society, informal caregiving is on the rise as professional care increasingly shifts to informal care. “Caring for friends or family with health problems places more demands on people,” the researcher says. “This means informal care is impacting other areas of life, such as work.”
Impact of informal caring responsibilities
The study examined this impact through multi-year surveys of the Dutch, British, and German populations. The results are clear: many informal caregivers struggle to balance their caregiving duties with their jobs.
Some caregivers reduce their hours or leave their jobs entirely to care for a relative or friend. Others switch jobs or become self-employed for more flexible hours. Informal caregivers tend to earn less and report lower job satisfaction compared to their non-caregiving colleagues.
The researcher compared different types of informal caregivers and found a negative effect on work for all groups. “However, long-term caregivers seem to experience some benefits,” the researcher notes.
Valuable skills
“This might be because they learn skills like time management and empathy from caregiving. These skills help them better balance work and caregiving, resulting in a smaller pay gap with colleagues.”
Using data from Statistics Netherlands, the researcher explored how caregiving affects pay. Caregivers earn less partly because employers may see them as less productive, making them less likely to get promoted. Additionally, taking time off or working fewer hours means their pay doesn’t keep pace.
Interestingly, for some men, caregiving was found to be beneficial. “Men sometimes earn more during or after a caregiving period,” the researcher explains. “This could be because caregiving makes men more empathetic and better at time management. These qualities are especially valued in men by employers, while women are already expected to have these skills.”
The researcher calls for more support for caregivers, particularly as society ages. “The challenges faced by caregivers are often seen as personal problems, but they’re not,” the researcher says. “More people are dealing with these issues. Options like caregiving leave exist, but they don’t solve the problem of lower pay.”
Policymakers should also invest in professional care. While informal care helps both caregivers and dependents, there must be alternatives if a caregiver becomes ill. Professional care doesn’t have to be more expensive than informal care. If family caregivers reduce their working hours, it adds up.
“Even if each caregiver works a few minutes less per week, it totals hundreds of thousands of lost work hours weekly, costing society money,” the researcher concludes.
