The Longevity Project and the Harris Poll Survey on Family Caregiving and Work
A new Longevity Project/Harris Poll survey shows that men have become increasingly involved in family caregiving duties during the pandemic. In the survey, 48% of men reported being a family caregiver, compared to 45% of women reporting the same.
While 36% of working family caregivers felt “completely supported” by their employers, the gender breakdown paints a more complex picture, as 43% of men feel completely supported while only 30% of women feel the same level of support. “Historically, women have always shouldered significantly more caregiving duties than men and employment data indicate that has continued during the pandemic,” Ken Stern, chair of the Longevity Project, said. “But this poll suggests that men may be involving themselves in caregiving in greater numbers than in the past, and that would be a positive development if the trend continues after the end of the pandemic.”
The poll also revealed that income plays a role in how much support family caregivers receive from their employers, with 42% of high wage earners feeling completely supported and only 26% of low wage earners reporting the same.
Key Findings
• Overall, working caregivers feel supported at work, with 36% feeling completely supported and 32% feeling mostly supported. Only 10% of working caregivers reported being “not feel[ing] supported at all” by their employers
• Women are less likely than men to feel supported at work in their caregiving duties. 30% of women felt completely supported at work, compared to 43% of men.
• People with lower incomes are less likely to feel supported at work in caregiving duties. 19% of caregivers who make $50,000/year or less reported feeling not supported at all at work, compared with 5% of caregivers who make $100,000+/year. And only 26% of those making $50,000 or less reported feeling completely supported, compared to 42% of high-income caregivers who reported complete support.
• Full time employees are more likely to feel supported in work than part time employees. 43% of caregivers who work full time reported feeling completely supported at work, while only 25% of caregivers who work part time felt completely supported at work.
• Caregivers in high income brackets felt flexibility in work was most important, with both “being able to work remotely” and “having flexible hours throughout the day” being reported as the most important accommodations employers could make at 31%. High income caregivers also expressed strong support for “allow me to work from home a few days per week.”
• Caregivers in low-income brackets advocated for protections in the workplace. Forty one percent (roughly twice the percentage of middle- and high-income respondents) identified regular COVID-testing of everyone who entered the workspace as a priority.
• Caregivers in low-income brackets also identified for better government support of caregiving as a valued accommodation, likely due to the relative dissatisfaction expressed by the group with employer support. Thirty-four percent identified better government support as a key accommodation, compared to 19% among high wage earners.
• Caregivers who didn’t feel supported at work wanted their managers to receive more training around the specific needs of caregivers and how best to accommodate them. 22% of caregivers who did not feel at all supported by their workplaces saw this as the most important accommodation their employers could make.
• Caregiving responsibilities were unevenly distributed among different racial and ethnic groups. Only 42% of Whites reported have caregiving responsibilities, compared to 51% to Asian/Pacific Islanders, 54% for Blacks, and 64% for Hispanics. Caregivers of Asian/Pacific Island descent reported the highest percentage of responsibility for care of the elderly.
• Men were slightly more likely to report being caregivers than women. 29% of men reported being a caregiver who worked full time, compared to 27% of women, and 11% of men reported leaving their jobs during COVID to become a full-time caregiver, compared with 8% of women who reported doing so.
The Longevity Project – Harris Poll caregiving survey was conducted from May 21-May 23, 2021 with a nationally representative sample of 2,072 adults. Of this sample, 912 reported being family caregivers and 401 reported being working caregivers (people who hold full-time or part-time work in addition to their duties as a caregiver to a family member). You can view the survey here.