IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/703.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does the negative effect of caregiving on work persist over time?

Author

Listed:
  • Heger, Dörte
  • Korfhage, Thorben

Abstract

Informal caregivers provide valuable services to elderly persons with long-term care needs. However, the time commitment of caregiving often competes against time spent in the labour force. In addition to the momentary trade-off, long-term consequences are possible since especially older workers might find it difficult to re-enter the labour market after a caregiving spell. While several studies document a negative relationship between caregiving and work, little is known about whether this effect is persistent over time. Analysing a large panel data set of 15 European countries and Israel, we show that care provision to an elderly parent has lasting negative effects on employment for both men and women but only women reduce their working hours.

Suggested Citation

  • Heger, Dörte & Korfhage, Thorben, 2017. "Does the negative effect of caregiving on work persist over time?," Ruhr Economic Papers 703, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:703
    DOI: 10.4419/86788817
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/168384/1/897243986.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/86788817?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. Steven Stern, 1995. "Estimating Family Long-Term Care Decisions in the Presence of Endogenous Child Characteristics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(3), pages 551-580.
    2. Carmichael, F. & Charles, S. & Hulme, C., 2010. "Who will care? Employment participation and willingness to supply informal care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 182-190, January.
    3. Schmitz, Hendrik & Westphal, Matthias, 2017. "Informal care and long-term labor market outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-18.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    5. repec:zbw:rwirep:0512 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Connelly, Luke Brian, 2014. "The effect of unpaid caregiving intensity on labour force participation: Results from a multinomial endogenous treatment model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 115-122.
    7. Van Houtven, Courtney Harold & Coe, Norma B. & Skira, Meghan M., 2013. "The effect of informal care on work and wages," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 240-252.
    8. Annika Meng, 2013. "Informal home care and labor-force participation of household members," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 959-979, April.
    9. Norma B. Coe & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2009. "Caring for mom and neglecting yourself? The health effects of caring for an elderly parent," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(9), pages 991-1010, September.
    10. Meghan M. Skira, 2015. "Dynamic Wage And Employment Effects Of Elder Parent Care," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(1), pages 63-93, February.
    11. Laura Crespo & Pedro Mira, 2014. "Caregiving to Elderly Parents and Employment Status of European Mature Women," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(4), pages 693-709, October.
    12. Berecki-Gisolf, Janneke & Lucke, Jayne & Hockey, Richard & Dobson, Annette, 2008. "Transitions into informal caregiving and out of paid employment of women in their 50s," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 122-127, July.
    13. Fiona Carmichael & Claire Hulme & Sally Sheppard & Gemma Connell, 2008. "Work - life imbalance: Informal care and paid employment in the UK," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 3-35.
    14. Carmichael, Fiona & Charles, Sue, 1998. "The labour market costs of community care1," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 747-765, December.
    15. Andreas Kotsadam, 2011. "Does Informal Eldercare Impede Women's Employment? The Case of European Welfare States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 121-144.
    16. Bolin, K. & Lindgren, B. & Lundborg, P., 2008. "Your next of kin or your own career?: Caring and working among the 50+ of Europe," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 718-738, May.
    17. Tarja Viitanen, 2010. "Informal eldercare across Europe: Estimates from the European Community Household Panel," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 149-178, September.
    18. Elisabeth Fevang & Snorre Kverndokk & Knut Røed, 2012. "Labor supply in the terminal stages of lone parents’ lives," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1399-1422, October.
    19. Bauer, Jan Michael & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2015. "Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family," IZA Discussion Papers 8851, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Heitmueller, Axel, 2007. "The chicken or the egg?: Endogeneity in labour market participation of informal carers in England," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 536-559, May.
    21. Spieß, Christa Katharina & Schneider, A. Ulrike, 2003. "Interactions between care-giving and paid work hours among European midlife women, 1994 to 1996," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(01), pages 41-68.
    22. Leigh, Andrew, 2010. "Informal care and labor market participation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 140-149, January.
    23. Susan Ettner, 1995. "The impact of “parent care” on female labor supply decisions," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(1), pages 63-80, February.
    24. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    25. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & Heitmueller, Axel & Nazarov, Zafar, 2010. "A dynamic analysis of informal care and employment in England," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 455-465, June.
    26. Carmichael, Fiona & Charles, Susan, 2003. "The opportunity costs of informal care: does gender matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 781-803, September.
    27. Heger, Dörte, 2014. "Work and Well-Being of Informal Caregivers in Europe," Ruhr Economic Papers 512, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    28. Lilly, Meredith B. & Laporte, Audrey & Coyte, Peter C., 2010. "Do they care too much to work? The influence of caregiving intensity on the labour force participation of unpaid caregivers in Canada," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 895-903, December.
    29. Susan L. Ettner, 1996. "The Opportunity Costs of Elder Care," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(1), pages 189-205.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rellstab, Sara & Bakx, Pieter & García-Gómez, Pilar & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2020. "The kids are alright - labour market effects of unexpected parental hospitalisations in the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Mozhaeva, Irina, 2021. "Informal caregiving and work: A high price to pay. The case of Baltic States," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).

    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. Geyer, J.; Korfhage, T.;, 2017. "Long-term care reform and the labor supply of informal caregivers – evidence from a quasi-experiment," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 17/20, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Yoko Niimi, 2018. "Does providing informal elderly care hasten retirement? Evidence from Japan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 1039-1062, August.
    3. Rellstab, Sara & Bakx, Pieter & García-Gómez, Pilar & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2020. "The kids are alright - labour market effects of unexpected parental hospitalisations in the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Connelly, Luke Brian, 2014. "The effect of unpaid caregiving intensity on labour force participation: Results from a multinomial endogenous treatment model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 115-122.
    5. Bauer, Jan Michael & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2015. "Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family," IZA Discussion Papers 8851, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Tha�s Garc�a Pereiro, 2018. "Helping while working? Women as providers of child and adult care in Italy," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 72(4), pages 53-64, October-D.
    7. Simard-Duplain, Gaëlle, 2022. "Heterogeneity in informal care intensity and its impact on employment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Heger, Dörte & Korfhage, Thorben, 2020. "Short- and Medium-Term Effects of Informal Eldercare on Labor Market Outcomes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-23.
    9. Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B. Connelly, 2017. "The Dynamics of Informal Care Provision in an Australian Household Panel Survey: Previous Work Characteristics and Future Care Provision," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(302), pages 395-419, September.
    10. Costa-Font, Joan & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2023. "Caregiving subsidies and spousal early retirement intentions," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 550-589, October.
    11. Schmitz, Hendrik & Westphal, Matthias, 2017. "Informal care and long-term labor market outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-18.
    12. Nicola Ciccarelli & Arthur Soest, 2018. "Informal Caregiving, Employment Status and Work Hours of the 50+ Population in Europe," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 363-396, September.
    13. Nishimura, Y.; Oikawa, M.;, 2017. "Effects of Informal Elderly Care on Labor Supply: Exploitation of Government Intervention on the Supply Side of Elderly Care Market," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 17/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Cristina Vilaplana Prieto & Sergi Jiménez-Martín, 2015. "Unmet needs in formal care: kindling the spark for caregiving behavior," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 153-184, June.
    15. Kolodziej, Ingo & Coe, Norma B. & Van Houtven, Courtney Harold, 2023. "Intensive informal care and impairments in work productivity and activity," Ruhr Economic Papers 1010, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Andreas Kotsadam, 2012. "The employment costs of caregiving in Norway," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 269-283, December.
    17. Norén, Anna, 2020. "Sick of my parents? Consequences of parental ill health on adult children," Working Paper Series 2020:1, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    18. Mozhaeva, Irina, 2021. "Informal caregiving and work: A high price to pay. The case of Baltic States," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    19. Zhu, Rong & Onur, Ilke, 2023. "Does retirement (really) increase informal caregiving? Quasi-experimental evidence from Australia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Meghan M. Skira, 2015. "Dynamic Wage And Employment Effects Of Elder Parent Care," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(1), pages 63-93, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    informal care; labour market outcomes; short and medium term effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:rwirep:703. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    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.