Volume 31, Issue 4

Abstract

Informal care and paid work among males and females

Informal care and paid work among males and females

This paper focuses on whether paid employment and providing informal care stand in each other's way and whether there are gender differences in this regard. The data come from a biannual panel study among 4.800 employed and non-employed persons (labour supply panel of the Netherlands' Institute for Social Research), and covers the years 2004-2014. In 2014, 23% of working women and 15% of working men in the age of 23-65 years helped a sick or ageing loved one with household tasks or personal care. The higher share of informal carers among women is mainly due to the fact that daughters are more likely than sons to provide parent care. There is hardly any difference between working men and women in the proportion caring for parents-in-law. When men and women take on care-giving, the effects hardly differ from each other. They do not shorten their work week to an increased degree, but long-lasting sick leave, for two or more consecutive weeks in a calendar year, rises, especially when the care giving lasts at least two years. Males, however, experience significantly more health complaints whereas females do not.

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/content/journals/10.5117/2015.031.004.414
2015-12-01
2024-03-29
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Keyword(s): informal carers,working hours,well-being,gender differences

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