Jacquie Johnson, 59, moved from her South Shore home to Oklahoma in 2018 to care for her ailing mother, who suffered from chronic kidney failure and dementia. Leaving her job as an environmental services supervisor at an Indiana hospital was a necessary but difficult decision. For two years, she provided care, taking a pay cut at an Oklahoma urgent care center. The emotional and financial toll was significant, depleting her savings. Johnson’s experience highlights the widespread challenges faced by family caregivers.
Many adults juggle caregiving responsibilities for aging parents or relatives, often requiring them to quit their jobs, reduce hours, or take unpaid leave. This number is projected to increase dramatically as the U.S. population ages rapidly, with all baby boomers reaching age 65 or older by 2030. Cook County alone saw a near 20% increase in adult households aged 65 and older between 2012 and 2019, according to the Institute of Housing Studies at DePaul University. The unpaid nature of caregiving, coupled with mounting medical bills, further exacerbates the financial strain.
After her mother’s death in 2020, Johnson returned to Chicago and began a grueling job search. Despite her Chicago roots and two graduate degrees, including an MBA, she struggled to find work, applying for up to 20 jobs daily with minimal response. This period was marked by depression, financial hardship, and the fear of losing her home.
This situation reflects a larger national trend. The Bipartisan Policy Center notes that nearly 20% of adults aged 25 to 54 are not working, for reasons that aren’t fully understood. While the challenges faced by new parents leaving the workforce are widely acknowledged, the impact of eldercare responsibilities receives far less attention. AARP highlights the significant loss of income, retirement savings, benefits, and career mobility for employed family caregivers who reduce their work hours or leave their jobs. A 2020 AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving report reveals that 53% of caregivers alter their work schedules for caregiving duties, with 15% cutting hours, 14% taking leave, and 8% receiving performance warnings.
Older caregivers face additional hurdles re-entering the workforce. Research shows individuals over 50 spend twice as long searching for employment compared to younger job seekers. The financial burden extends beyond lost wages; the median direct and indirect costs of caregiving are estimated at $180,000 over two years by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. The majority of caregivers are daughters caring for their mothers, potentially worsening the gender pay gap. AARP estimates that 48 million family caregivers provide over $600 billion annually in unpaid care in the U.S. Many are also part of the “sandwich generation,” juggling childcare responsibilities concurrently.
President Biden’s April 2023 executive order aimed to address these challenges, acknowledging the difficult choices caregivers face. However, support systems to help caregivers re-enter the workforce after their responsibilities conclude are crucial. For Johnson, this support came in the form of the AARP Foundation’s Back to Work 50+ program, which connected her with a career coach. This assistance helped her land a temporary position, eventually leading to a permanent role.
The Back to Work 50+ program operates in six states and has assisted over 100,000 individuals aged 50 and older. Alongside such initiatives, policy changes are also needed. Illinois’s new law prohibiting caregiver discrimination is a positive step, and the reintroduced Credit for Caring Act in Congress, proposing a federal tax credit for caregivers, offers further potential support.
Shari Lewis, 52, faced similar struggles after taking unpaid leave to care for her father’s cancer treatment. Her subsequent job search proved arduous, leading to months of financial strain and difficult choices regarding essential expenses. Ultimately, with the help of a career coach, she found employment. Both Johnson and Lewis’s stories underscore the significant financial and emotional toll of eldercare and the need for broader societal support for family caregivers.