IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v35y2016i52.html

Lifetime probabilities of multigenerational caregiving and labor force attachment in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Anne Bardoel

    (Monash University)

  • Robert Drago

    (Independent researcher)

Abstract

Background: An aging population has increased the prevalence of multigenerational caregiving (MGC), defined as unpaid care for an adult while having a dependent child in the household. Policymakers are simultaneously promoting labor force attachment in response to population aging, which may conflict with MGC status. Objective: This research provides estimates of the probability of MGC status and its relationship to labor force attachment. Methods: A balanced panel of respondents from nine waves (2005−2013) of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data has been used to estimate point-in-time and lifetime probabilities of MGC status for women and for men, and rates of labor force participation and part-time employment prior to, during, and after MGC status. Results: Few adult women (2.3%) and men (1.1%) report MGC status at any point in time. Estimated lifetime probabilities of MGC status are 57.1% for women and 34.6% for men, and rates are higher for women and men out of the labor force pre-MGC status. Comparing pre- and post-MGC periods, women’s labor force participation rises by an estimated 9 percentage points, mainly due to an increase in part-time employment. Conclusions: A majority of Australian women and many Australian men can expect to take on multigenerational caregiving responsibilities during their lifetime. While long-term labor force participation is not reduced by these responsibilities, they may increase the concentration of women in part-time employment. Contribution: Prior studies capturing MGC status are limited by age, gender, or are not longitudinal and our research note attempts to broaden our understanding of the impact of carer status.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Anne Bardoel & Robert Drago, 2016. "Lifetime probabilities of multigenerational caregiving and labor force attachment in Australia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(52), pages 1537-1548.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:35:y:2016:i:52
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.52
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol35/52/35-52.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.52?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nick Parr, 2011. "The contribution of increases in family benefits to Australia’s early 21st-century fertility increase: An empirical analysis," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(6), pages 215-244.
    2. Mark Wooden & Nicole Watson, 2007. "The HILDA Survey and its Contribution to Economic and Social Research (So Far)," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 208-231, June.
    3. Peter McDonald, 2013. "Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(34), pages 981-994.
    4. Roberto G. Gutierrez, 2002. "Parametric frailty and shared frailty survival models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 2(1), pages 22-44, February.
    5. Natasha Pilkauskas & Melissa Martinson, 2014. "Three-generation family households in early childhood: Comparisons between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(60), pages 1639-1652.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Louise Rawlings & Stephen J. Robson & Pauline Ding, 2016. "Socioeconomic Response by Age Group to the Australian Baby Bonus: A Multivariate Analysis of Birth Data from 2001-13," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 19(2), pages 111-129.
    2. Ross Guest & Nick Parr, 2013. "Family policy and couples’ labour supply: an empirical assessment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1631-1660, October.
    3. Sinclair, Sarah & Boymal, Jonathan & de Silva, Ashton J, 2012. "Is the fertility response to the Australian baby bonus heterogeneous across maternal age? Evidence from Victoria," MPRA Paper 42725, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mark Wooden & Robert Drago, 2007. "The Changing Distribution of Working Hours in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    5. Zheng, Weiting & Singh, Kulwant, 2025. "When competition meets connections: The asymmetric effects of political ties on firm survival and efficiency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    6. repec:aen:journl:ej34-1-08 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Son Nghiem & Rasheda Khanam & Xuan-Binh Vu & Bach Xuan Tran, 2020. "Implicitly Estimating the Cost of Mental Illness in Australia: A Standard-of-Living Approach," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 261-270, April.
    8. Dirk Oberschachtsiek, 2014. "Waiting to start a business venture. Empirical evidence on the determinants," Working Paper Series in Economics 293, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    9. Diana Warren, 2008. "Retirement Expectations and Labour Force Transitions: The Experience of the Baby Boomer Generation," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2008n24, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Markus H. Hahn & John P. Haisken-DeNew, 2013. "PanelWhiz and the Australian Longitudinal Data Infrastructure in Economics," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 46(3), pages 379-386, September.
    11. Francisco Azpitarte, 2014. "Was Pro-Poor Economic Growth in Australia for the Income-Poor? And for the Multidimensionally-Poor?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 871-905, July.
    12. Gøsta Esping-Andersen & Francesco C. Billari, 2015. "Re-theorizing Family Demographics," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(1), pages 1-31, March.
    13. Soo-Yeon Yoon, 2017. "The influence of a supportive environment for families on women’s fertility intentions and behavior in South Korea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(7), pages 227-254.
    14. Robert Drago & Mark Wooden & David Black, 2009. "Long Work Hours: Volunteers and Conscripts," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(3), pages 571-600, September.
    15. Nicole Watson & Roger Wilkins, 2012. "The Impact of Computer-Assisted Interviewing on Interview Length," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n10, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    16. William H. Greene & Mark N. Harris & Bruce Hollingsworth, 2015. "Inflated Responses in Measures of Self-Assessed Health," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 461-493, Fall.
    17. Bulan, Laarni & Mayer, Christopher & Somerville, C. Tsuriel, 2009. "Irreversible investment, real options, and competition: Evidence from real estate development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 237-251, May.
    18. Sunnee Billingsley & Gerda Neyer & Katharina Wesolowski, 2022. "Social Investment Policies and Childbearing Across 20 Countries: Longitudinal and Micro-Level Analyses," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 951-974, December.
    19. Bessonova, Evguenia, 2023. "Firms’ efficiency, exits and government procurement contracts," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    20. S. Magnussen, 2015. "A fixed count sampling estimator of stem density based on a survival function," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(11), pages 485-495.
    21. Iskhakov, Fedor & Keane, Michael, 2021. "Effects of taxes and safety net pensions on life-cycle labor supply, savings and human capital: The case of Australia," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 401-432.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:35:y:2016:i:52. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.