IV. Conclusions

Caring for the elderly in the family can hinder waged job. Adult women may have to sacrifice their jobs in order to look after their parents or other elderly in the family or to aid them in chores and tasks. Several elderly individuals who are ill require continuous care and assistance, making employment practically unworkable for members of the family who function as main providers of care, unless the duties of caregiving is distributed fairly among family members. Elderly people who need less rigorous and demanding care may require support that can obstruct work hours, like assistance in meal preparation and dressing.    

            Another way of assisting ill elderly in the family would be to offer them monetary support. Rather than giving care to the elderly themselves, which can get in the way with waged labour, some employees may decide to care for the elderly monetarily. Parents may then utilise the cash transfers to avail paid home nursing services or to settle up the expenses of formal nursing care. Replacing monetary assistance to elderly individuals in the family for time support would permit other members of the family to assist their parents without having to sacrifice their jobs, which may be particularly appealing to employees who are substantially compensated. Adult members of the family may even enhance their labour involvement so as to offer more liberal monetary assistance to the elderly people in the family.

            Further research is needed in the field given the dearth in available literature on the possible impact of eldercare duties on labour force involvement in developing and developed countries, in this case, South Africa and Canada. An understanding of relationship between informal caregiving and labour market participation will definitely help policymakers decide what social or public services should be implemented. Population ageing is a serious issue in South Africa and Canada, which then merits further consideration.

 

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