Costs of Caregiving takes a Bite out of the Sandwich Generation

Being a caregiver isn’t just a gesture of the heart, it’s a commitment of the wallet. And, as more adults are finding themselves in the position of caring for both young children and their own elderly parents, this “sandwich generation” is expending substantial personal resources to compensate for inadequate public support.

According to a report today by Marketplace’s Chris Farrell, the cost of caring for an aging parent, including lost wages, lost Social Security benefits and lost potential savings, carries a price tag nationally of $3 trillion. AARP estimates that 42 percent of the workforce over the last 5 years has been in this position, often due to the lack of affordable alternatives. 

The impact of these cost, of course, aren’t isolated to the place and time that they’re incurred. In this situation, an adult who suspends preparations for her own future expenses through saving or accrual of Social Security benefits while caring for a parent replicates the financial vulnerability that required her care to begin with. And beyond the cost to their own future wellbeing, the national economy takes a hit under this arrangement since the labor provided by unpaid caregivers isn’t considered when calculating GDP as it would have been if they had remained in the paid workforce. In this way, privatizing the responsibility of care hardly isolates the cost, instead it compounds it through generations and across the broader economy.
 
There are many threads binding this complicated issue [gender, race, education level and a slew of other factors influence who is most negatively affected, and the roles of individuals, employers, and governemnt services in deliniating options and providing resources need definition]. Fortunately, there are able minds taking on the task of unraveling it. This most recent glimpse at the personal, economic, and other costs associated with providing care is a reminder of why this work is so important – and why we need effective policies in place to support those assuming these immense responsibilities.