Caregivers for seniors often miss work, have to change their jobs or even lose their jobs, according to a study by Genworth released Thursday during its annual Long Term Care Symposium in Washington, D.C.
The Beyond Dollars study shows 11 percent of people caring for an elderly loved one actually lost their jobs, another 10 percent have had to change careers and 12 percent had to change job positions. In addition, 51 percent felt that care giving responsibilities negatively impacts their ability to perform their jobs.
The study included 1,200 people ages 21 years or older who were recipients of long-term care, caregivers or had a family member who was a recipient of care for more than 30 days during the previous 12-month period.
Seventy-seven percent of the caregivers reported missing some work during the past year, an increase of 19 percent from when caregivers were surveyed by Genworth in 2010. Caregivers missed an average of 7 hours of work per week and 19 percent missed 10 or more hours of work per week.
Absences, reduced hours and chronic tardiness translated into a significant reduction in caregivers’ paychecks with caregivers reporting an average loss of one-third of their income.
“Although care giving brings many rewards, it can also have very real negative consequences for families who haven’t planned ahead for the possibility of their loved ones needing long-term care,” says Suly Salazar-Layton, director of thought leadership at Genworth’s U.S. Life Insurance Division. “In fact, 50 percent of respondents said if they could do anything differently, it would be to do a better job of planning. Our hope is that this study will encourage families to sit down and have that talk well before care giving becomes a crisis.”