Working Paper: NBER ID: w31450
Authors: Nicole Maestas; Matt Messel; Yulya Truskinovsky
Abstract: A significant share of the rapidly growing demand for long-term care is met by family members, many of whom also work, and family caregiving has been shown to affect labor market outcomes. We use survey responses about family caregiving roles linked to administrative earnings records to estimate the employment trajectories of family caregivers over a 25 year period around the reported start of a caregiving episode. These trajectories vary significantly by gender. Relative to a matched comparison group, caregiving precipitates a drop in both earnings and employment for women, while men only enter caregiving after experiencing significant labor supply disruptions.
Keywords: caregiving; labor supply; employment trajectories; family caregivers
JEL Codes: J14; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| caregiving (I11) | employment for women (J21) |
| caregiving (I11) | earnings for women (J31) |
| caregiving (I11) | employment for men (J68) |
| caregiving (I11) | earnings for men (J31) |
| timing of caregiving (J13) | labor supply disruptions for women (J22) |
| timing of caregiving (J13) | labor supply disruptions for men (J29) |
| caregiving (I11) | stalled earnings growth for women (J16) |