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Unpaid Care for Elderly Parents and Labor Supply Among Older Working-Age Men and Women Across Europe

Labbas, Elisa LU orcid and Stanfors, Maria LU (2025) In Feminist Economics
Abstract
With population aging, more adults across Europe face competing demands of working for pay and caring for elderly family members. Associated tradeoffs are expected to be negative, gendered, and vary across contexts with different levels of gender equality, public support for eldercare, and work-family balance. Using SHARE data from 2004–20, this study investigates how unpaid caregiving to independently living parents relates to labor supply among mature working-age (50–64) men and women across Europe. Results find limited tradeoffs between unpaid caregiving and labor supply, even where public support for eldercare is low. Caregiving associates with men’s and women’s employment and full-time work in similar ways. Gender differences... (More)
With population aging, more adults across Europe face competing demands of working for pay and caring for elderly family members. Associated tradeoffs are expected to be negative, gendered, and vary across contexts with different levels of gender equality, public support for eldercare, and work-family balance. Using SHARE data from 2004–20, this study investigates how unpaid caregiving to independently living parents relates to labor supply among mature working-age (50–64) men and women across Europe. Results find limited tradeoffs between unpaid caregiving and labor supply, even where public support for eldercare is low. Caregiving associates with men’s and women’s employment and full-time work in similar ways. Gender differences nevertheless exist in both paid work and caregiving across Europe, especially in Continental and Southern Europe. These differences are established before midlife and build up across the life course and should be addressed when designing policies for longer working lives in Europe. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Unpaid caregiving, labor supply, gender, Europe, SHARE, work-family balance, J22, J16, I38
in
Feminist Economics
publisher
Routledge
ISSN
1354-5701
DOI
10.1080/13545701.2025.2530081
project
Longer working lives and informal caregiving: Tradeoffs and economic value
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dcb0947f-8ca4-4bb7-87bb-a2d5b36ce103
date added to LUP
2025-10-09 10:36:09
date last changed
2025-10-09 11:16:08
@article{dcb0947f-8ca4-4bb7-87bb-a2d5b36ce103,
  abstract     = {{With population aging, more adults across Europe face competing demands of working for pay and caring for elderly family members. Associated tradeoffs are expected to be negative, gendered, and vary across contexts with different levels of gender equality, public support for eldercare, and work-family balance. Using SHARE data from 2004–20, this study investigates how unpaid caregiving to independently living parents relates to labor supply among mature working-age (50–64) men and women across Europe. Results find limited tradeoffs between unpaid caregiving and labor supply, even where public support for eldercare is low. Caregiving associates with men’s and women’s employment and full-time work in similar ways. Gender differences nevertheless exist in both paid work and caregiving across Europe, especially in Continental and Southern Europe. These differences are established before midlife and build up across the life course and should be addressed when designing policies for longer working lives in Europe.}},
  author       = {{Labbas, Elisa and Stanfors, Maria}},
  issn         = {{1354-5701}},
  keywords     = {{Unpaid caregiving; labor supply; gender; Europe; SHARE; work-family balance; J22; J16; I38}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Feminist Economics}},
  title        = {{Unpaid Care for Elderly Parents and Labor Supply Among Older Working-Age Men and Women Across Europe}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2025.2530081}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13545701.2025.2530081}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}