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This research estimates the opportunity costs associated with informal elder-care in the United States.

October 7, 2014Open Access

The Opportunity Costs of Informal Elder-Care in the United States: New Estimates from the American Time Use Survey

Key Points

This research estimates the opportunity costs associated with informal elder-care in the United States.
Analyzed data from the 2011 and 2012 American Time Use Survey.
Calculated opportunity costs using wage imputation for nonworking individuals via selection-corrected regression.
Total opportunity costs of informal elder-care are estimated at $522 billion annually.
Replacing informal care with unskilled paid care costs $221 billion, while skilled paid care costs $642 billion.
Informal elder-care is more economical overall compared to skilled paid care.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To provide nationally representative estimates of the opportunity costs of informal elder-care in the United States. DATA SOURCES: Data from the 2011 and 2012 American Time Use Survey. STUDY DESIGN: Wage is used as the measure of an individual's value of time (opportunity cost), with wages being imputed for nonworking individuals using a selection-corrected regression methodology. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The total opportunity costs of informal elder-care amount to 522 billion annually, while the costs of replacing this care by unskilled and skilled paid care are 221 billion and 642 billion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Informal caregiving remains a significant phenomenon in the United States with a high opportunity cost, although it remains more economical (in the aggregate) than skilled paid care.

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Chari et al. (Tue,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a10c44bcfa01e990d9f7b66 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12238

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