According to this post from AARP on Twitter, “The Care Gap is growing.” They report that, in 2010, there were 7.1 “potential” family caregivers for every American over 80 years old. Ten years from now by 2030, there will likely be only 4.1.
Just how large a problem is this? A reasonable question might be, “So what percentage of eldercare and dementia care is provided by family members?” I’m still looking for an authoritative source on that statistic but I’ve often heard that its around 70%. According to AARP, in 2017 the estimated value of dementia care provided by untrained, unpaid family members was $320 Billion, nearly equal to the $380 Billion for paid dementia care.
Part of the Valuing the Invaluable series on the economic value of family caregiving, this report updates national and individual state estimates of the economic value of family caregiving using the most current data available. It found that in 2017, about 41 million family caregivers in the U.S. provided an estimated 34 billion hours of care to an adult with limitations in daily activities. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $470 billion.
There's a pretty good summary of the research on this page at AARP: Valuing the Invaluable 2019 Update: Charting a Path Forward at AARP.org. Here is an excellent summary of the state of caregiving in families.
In the same article, AARP also reported lost wages to be about ten times that number. (Apparently the estimated value of their caregiving was calculated on a minimum wage while the lost wages statistic based was based on a higher rate. This makes sense if you consider that family caregivers are often walking away from much higher salaries at the peak of their earning potential while they’re entering the caregiving labor market at the bottom without training.)
The answer to the question we started with is this: it's a BIG problem for everyone. It obviously affects the elderly who need care. But the shortage will also impact the 41 million family caregivers. And if we consider those who love and care for the caregivers, it will affect ALL OF US.
