Family Caregivers' Labor Force Participation and Financial Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study

As the older population continues to grow, the number of people in need of long-term care is likely to increase and more families than ever before are becoming involved in providing care to family members. Studies on family caregivers’ labor force participation and financial well-being have implications for designing social policy and programs to support family caregivers. However, first, the existing research on the relationship between caregiving and labor force participation is suggestive but not conclusive due to equivocal research results based on cross-sectional design. Second, much of the previous literature on caregiving has focused on the effects of caregiving on the caregivers’ psychological and physical well-being, and there is limited literature pertaining to caregivers’ financial well-being. Third, a comparative study of the similarities and differences across cultures will add knowledge regarding how cultural background and institutional factors interact with care for the elderly.\ud This dissertation aimed to fill these gaps by examining family caregivers’ labor force participation and financial well-being through a longitudinal research design. In addition, this study attempted to conduct a cross-national comparative study between the United States and Korea by exploring the two nationally representative data. Results suggest that while caregiving had a negative impact on women’s labor force participation, employment status was not related to assume the role of physical caregiver. In addition, men’s labor force participation had a negative impact on taking on the physical care, whereas the role of physical caregiver was not related to their employment status. However, the impact of caregiving on change in financial well-being and the mediation effect of employment on financial well-being were not identified. Findings from this study provide a greater understanding of gender differences in the relationship between caregiving and labor force participation