Celebrating National Family Caregivers Month with BLS Data

Thursday, November 30, 2023

During the month of November, the nation recognizes caregivers across the country by celebrating National Family Caregivers Month. In honor of this month and our nation’s many family caregivers, let’s find out more about those who provide essential support and considerable time caring for aging family members and friends.

Fourteen percent of the population, 37.1 million people, provide unpaid eldercare in the United States. Eldercare commonly refers to the informal or unpaid care that family members or friends provide aging adults, though it can sometimes include formal or paid care. BLS defines eldercare providers as individuals who provide unpaid care to someone age 65 or older who needs help because of a condition related to aging. This care can be provided to household or nonhousehold members, as well as persons living in retirement homes or assisted care facilities.

Eldercare providers shoulder a significant time burden that is both physically demanding and emotionally taxing. Using data from the 2021-22 American Time Use Survey, we’ll take a closer look at these providers and the time they are dedicating to our aging population.

Who is providing eldercare?

Of the 37.1 million eldercare providers in the U.S. age 15 and over, the majority (59 percent) are women. In terms of age, people 45 to 54 (20 percent) and 55 to 64 (21 percent) are the most likely to provide eldercare, followed by those ages 65 and older (15 percent). Sixty-one percent of eldercare providers are employed.

Almost four and a half million people in the U.S. are members of the “sandwich generation”, meaning they are between two generations that need care. These people are parenting children under the age of 18 and also providing care for their own parent.

How often are they providing eldercare?

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Nearly half of eldercare providers are caring for an aging adult at least several times a week, and almost one-quarter are doing so every day.

How much time are they spending providing eldercare?

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Eldercare providers are spending an average of 3.6 hours engaged in eldercare activities on days they provide care. On these days, the amount of time spent providing care is the same for men and women (3.6 hours). When comparing age groups, eldercare providers who are ages 65 and older are the most likely to provide care on a given day (38 percent), and on days when they are providing care, they spend 4.9 hours doing so.

How does the time spent differ for those with responsibilities such as childcare or jobs? On a given day, 19 percent of eldercare providers who are also parents of children living at home engage in eldercare activities. These parents spend 2.4 hours providing eldercare on days they do so. Employed providers spend 2.8 hours on days they provide eldercare, compared to 4.4 hours for those that do not have a job.

Which eldercare providers are more likely to provide care on an average day?

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Seventy-one percent of eldercare providers care for only one person. Of these providers, 66 percent of those caring for a spouse or unmarried partner and 31 percent of those caring for a parent engage in eldercare on an average day. Those who provide eldercare for someone solely in their household are more than three times as likely to provide eldercare on a given day than those who provide care solely for someone living in another household—66 percent compared with 19 percent.

Fifteen percent of eldercare providers have been providing care for 10 years or more. Of these caregivers, one-third (34 percent) provide eldercare on an average day.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

On days they provide care, those who provide eldercare solely for a spouse or unmarried partner spend 6.1 hours, solely to household members spend 4.4 hours, and solely to people who don’t live in the same house spend 3.1 hours doing so. Across all relationships, those who provide daily care spend 4.3 hours engaged in eldercare activities.

What types of caregiving activities are being provided?

Eldercare can include nearly any activity. Providers may care for family and friends by helping with daily physical or grooming needs or even providing rides to jobs or appointments. Care also includes supplying companionship or just remaining available to help when needed.

On days they provide care, 40 percent of eldercare providers engage in caregiving associated with household tasks such as preparing food or performing housework. They spend an average of 42 minutes (0.7 hours) a day on these activities. Thirty-four percent of providers engage in caregiving associated with leisure and sports (which includes watching TV) on days they provide care, spending 1.1 hours per day.

This is just a snapshot of the eldercare information available from the American Time Use Survey. Find out more about unpaid eldercare in the United States.

 

Frequency of providing eldercare, eldercare providers 15 years and over, 2021–22

Frequency of providing care	Percent
Daily	24.3
Several times a week	24.0
Once a week	16.1
Several times a month	21.0
Once a month	10.0
Other	4.6
Survey participants were asked how often they provided care in the past 3 to 4 months; this information was used to categorize them by frequency of care. Corresponding time and percent estimates were measured using information about care provided on the diary day. Not all categories are shown. NOTE: Eldercare providers are those who, in the previous 3 to 4 months, cared for someone with a condition related to aging. Estimates were calculated for persons who cared for at least one person age 65 or older. Data refer to persons 15 years and over.

 

Average hours per day eldercare providers spent providing care on days they engaged in eldercare by selected characteristics, 2021–22

Characteristic	Hours
Total, 15 years and over	3.59
Age of provider
15 to 24 years	2.45
25 to 34 years	1.59
35 to 44 years	2.71
45 to 54 years	2.32
55 to 64 years	4.09
65 years and over	4.85
Sex
Men	3.61
Women	3.58
Employment status
Employed	2.75
Full-time workers	2.65
Part-time workers	3.04
Not employed	4.40
Parental Status
Parent of one or more household children	2.38
Parent of a household child age 6 to 17, none younger	2.60
Parent of a household child under age 6	1.52
Not a parent of a household child	3.79
Marital status
No spouse or unmarried partner present in household	2.96
Spouse or unmarried partner present in household	4.05
NOTE: Eldercare providers are those who, in the previous 3 to 4 months, cared for someone with a condition related to aging. Estimates were calculated for persons who cared for at least one person age 65 or older. Data refer to persons 15 years and over.

 

Percent of eldercare providers who provided care on an average day by relationship, 2021–22

Characteristic	Percent
Relationship to recipient, caring for one person only(1)
Caring for a spouse or unmarried partner(2)	66.3
Caring for a parent	30.9
Caring for a grandparent(3)	19.0
Caring for another related person	24.8
Caring for a friend or neighbor	15.8
Care of household or nonhousehold members(1)
Provided eldercare to household member(s) only	65.7
Provided eldercare to nonhousehold member(s) only	18.8
(1) Not all categories are shown. (2) Care for a spouse or unmarried partner may be underreported. (3) Refers only to persons caring for a grandparent who did not live with them. Persons caring for a grandparent with whom they lived are included in the category "Caring for another related person."

 

Average hours per day eldercare providers spent providing care on days they engaged in eldercare by selected characteristics, 2021–22

Characteristic	Hours
Relationship to recipient, caring for one person only(2)
Caring for a spouse or unmarried partner(3)	6.10
Caring for a parent	3.07
Caring for a grandparent(4)	(1)-
Caring for another related person	3.63
Caring for a friend or neighbor	2.64
Care of household or nonhousehold members(3)
Provided eldercare to household member(s) only	4.39
Provided eldercare to nonhousehold member(s) only	3.05
Frequency of care(5)
Provided care daily	4.32
Provided care several times a week	2.67
Provided care once a week	2.17
Provided care several times a month	2.64
Provided care once a month	(1)-
Duration of care(6)
Provided care for less than 1 year	4.40
Provided care for 1 to 2 years	3.27
Provided care for 3 to 4 years	3.37
Provided care for 5 to 9 years	4.10
Provided care for 10 years or more	3.04
(1) Estimate is suppressed because it does not meet the American Time Use Survey publication standards. (2) Not all categories are shown. (3) Care for a spouse or unmarried partner may be underreported. (4) Refers only to persons caring for a grandparent who did not live with them. Persons caring for a grandparent with whom they lived are included in the category "Caring for another related person." (5) Survey participants were asked how often they provided care in the past 3 to 4 months; this information was used to categorize them by frequency of care. Corresponding time and percent estimates were measured using information about care provided on the diary day. Not all categories are shown. (6) For persons who provided eldercare to more than one person, the duration of care is calculated based on the person for whom they had cared the longest. NOTE: Eldercare providers are those who, in the previous 3 to 4 months, cared for someone with a condition related to aging. Estimates were calculated for persons who cared for at least one person age 65 or older. Data refer to persons 15 years and over.