Economic Costs of Care

Completed project

There are 8.1 million caregivers in Canada and their numbers are growing rapidly. While caring for family members and friends is becoming a normative experience, we are beginning to recognize both caregiving’s potential to profoundly affect the life course of caregivers and the limits of the family/friend care sector. With funding from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (2010-2013), Janet Fast and her colleagues Norah Keating (University of Alberta), Donna Lero (University of Guelph) and Karen Duncan (University of Manitoba) led a research program with other collaborators to deepen our understanding of the Economic Costs of Care.

These final reports explore the short and long-term economic costs that family/friend caregivers and their employers incur.

  • A framework and literature review on the economic costs of care
  • The intersection of caregiving and employment
  • Monetizing the costs of eldercare-related employment consequences
  • Care-related out-of-pocket costs
  • Availability, accessibility and effectiveness of workplace supports for Canadian caregivers
  • Economic costs of care to family/friend caregivers: A synthesis of findings
  • Economic costs of care to employers: A synthesis of findings