Care regimes and national employment models

Rapid population ageing has dramatically increased the social and economic cost of elderly care. Demand for care labour is increasing rapidly, and all countries are experiencing problems in recruiting enough workers to meet demand. In some countries, the shortage of care workers has been met by a large inflow of immigrant, mostly female, workers. The paper’s aim is twofold. To argue that the way in which care is provided and financed may entail large differences in the creation of a formal care market. Provision in kind and ‘tied’ monetary transfers - that is, cash benefits that are somehow regulated – may prevent the formation of a large informal care market. National employment models in turn shape the features of the care labour market: in fact, they affect the quantity and the quality of the care labour supply, the size of the care labour shortage, and the degree of dependence on migrant carers. We show how these two factors combine to shape the characteristics of care regimes and their long term sustainability.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)