INFORMAL CARE AND FEMALE LABOUR SUPPLY
| Author | Sue Charles,Tim Barmby |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1992.tb00622.x |
| Date | 01 August 1992 |
| Published date | 01 August 1992 |
Scottish
Journal
of
Polificd
Economy,
Vol.
39,
No.
3.
August
1992
b
1992
Scotllsh
Economic
Society
INFORMAL CARE
AND
FEMALE LABOUR
SUPPLY
TIM
BARMBY*
Loughborough University
AND
SUE
CHARLES*
University College
of
Wales, Aberyst wyth
I
INTRODUCTION
Informal care involves the supply of labour, other than
via
the market and
voluntary service institutions, to provide care services for people made
dependent through old age
or
ill health.
’
Such care is typically provided by
women, in particular women
of
middle and late-middle age. The recipient is
typically elderly, often
a
parent or parent-in-law (see EOC,
1980;
Charlesworth,
et al.
1984;
Martin and Roberts,
1984).
A
combination of long-term demographic trends and current government
policy makes the economic analysis
of
the supply
of
informal care timely. The
proportion
of
the population which is over
75
years
of
age is rising sharply
(OPCS,
1987),
and it is government policy to favour community care over
institutional care for the frail elderly. Since ‘community care’ in practice
almost always means ‘informal care’ as defined above (Finch and Groves,
1980;
EOC,
1984),
a significant increase in demand for the latter may therefore be
expected. On the supply side, however, opportunities for women in paid
employment continue to increase’ and, given the total constraint on their time,
the question arises as to whether
a
sufficient number
of
women will be willing
‘That is,
it
is informal both in the sense that it is unpaid and in that
it
is informally
organised. Note further, the care services provided are above and beyond the ‘normal’ ones
of
childcare and housework.
’
Indeed, a second demographic trend, the decline in the size
of
the
16-25
age group, could
also be relevant.
If
older women return to the labour market after a break associated with
child care are regarded as substitutes for youngsters entering the market for the first time, the
increasing scarcity of the latter could improve the market opportunities
of
the former.
‘The authors would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Phillipa Swaby, the
computing assistance of Geoff Harris and Chris Orme, and helpful comments and suggestions
on an earlier draft from John Cable.
Of
course, we remain responsible for any errors. The
work reported here was undertaken with the aid
of
a
grant from Loughborough University,
using data supplied by the ESRC Data Archive.
Date of receipt of final manuscript:
14
June
1991.
288
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