The impact of the provision of informal care on labour force participation behaviour

With an ageing population and an increasing incidence of disability, the demand for informal care is increasing when the Federal Government is trying to raise labour force participation. In 2003 16% of the adult population provided informal care. However, ‘Caregiving and receiving is a relationship, providing worth and value to all participants’, so that public policy designed to support caring should not view it merely as a marketable service if not available informally. In this paper, we employ econometric techniques to explore the impact of different specifications of informal care on labour force participation behaviour. The paper then focuses on the interdependence of participation behaviour and the provision of informal co-residential care and how these decisions are conditioned by socioeconomic factors. Finally the implications of the results for the (re)design of public policy are explored