Combining for and Care for older parents

The primary objective of the project is to generate new knowledge on how senior employees' care obligations for their older parents
affect their labour market participation, and to disseminate this knowledge to informed policymaking
promoting extended and full-time working lives for employees who give care to older parents.
Trends in population ageing constitute a potentially important policy dilemma with respect to the organization of elderly care. On the
one hand, the probable rise in care requirements, in combination with the challenges related to the fiscal sustainability of the welfare
state, suggest that we need to mobilize family resources in order to provide long-term care for older people. On the other hand, the
mobilization of family resources may make it difficult for caregivers to participate fully in the labour market, and this may again
undermine the fiscal sustainability. This project will identify which employees with parents in need of care are at risk of exiting the
labour market, increasing their use of part- time work, and using insurance benefits. The project will examine the significance of
individual characteristics, enterprises characteristics in different sectors and industries, and family context.
The theoretical framework is the conflict of interests between increasing needs for care and a relatively lack of people participating in
the labour marked. This conflict of interest will be investigated at micro-level (between care giving employees and employers) and at
macro level (between the welfare state and the labour marked).
The study will adopt a mixed-method approach and apply both quantitative and qualitative methods. We will combine analyses of
uniquely rich administrative population registers, qualitative data and survey data methods within a multidisciplinary research
framework. Researchers from the fields of economy, political science and sociology will collaborate in the project.