The research is available in Hebrew only
لتحميل البيان الصحفي ، اضغط هنا
About 1.2 million people in Israel care for family members with disabilities of some type with no financial compensation, and many of them care for more than one person. This investment in caregiving impacts their ability to integrate into the labor market and their need for some type of support. A new study by the Taub Center examines the characteristics of these caregivers and the type of care and the amount of time they give, and estimates the impact that they experience. The study shows that Haredim care for family members in greater numbers, those aged 50–59 experience the heaviest burden since they care for their own young children as well as for aging parents, and the majority of caregivers testify that they have not experienced any harm to their ability to work outside of the home. Many caregivers invest 10 hours or more per week — the equivalent of a day’s work.
A new study by Taub Center researchers Rachel Arazi, Prof. Benjamin Bental, and Prof. Nadav Davidovitch looks at the characteristics of those who take care of family members and the type of care that they give, as well as the impact that results. The study is based on data from the CBS Social Survey. The researchers divided the disabilities that required caregiving into three main categories: physical disabilities — mobility difficulties due to old age or physical disability; cognitive disabilities — also due to old age or emotional issues; and mental disabilities — due to autism, intellectual disabilities, or loneliness.
About 22% of the survey respondents said that they care for a family member. Separating by population group, it was found that 22% of the non-Haredi Jews, 34% of the Haredim, and 17% of the Arabs care for a family member. The majority of the assistance in the Arab society (76%) is for impairments to physical function. Among Haredim, care for mental disabilities is relatively more common than among non-Haredi Jews and Arabs (27% versus 15% and 12%, respectively). The differences between groups are likely to be due to the more traditional structure of Haredi and Arab societies, where oftentimes those in need of assistance live with other family members, as well as differences in the incidence of dementia in the different populations. It is also possible that since mental disabilities are not a problem of aging, their relative frequency in the Haredi society, which is quite young, is rising.
In an examination of the time spent in caregiving, the researchers found that most caregivers (79%) do not live with those they care for. About 28% of caregivers spend up to 2 hours a week, about 18% spend between 3 and 5 hours a week, about 18% spend 6 to 9 weekly hours, and about 28% say that they spend more than 10 weekly hours in caregiving activities. That is, more than half of family caregivers, who represent about 10% of the working-age population, invest the equivalent of one day a week in caring for a family member for half a year or more.
More Haredim and married people care for family members, and those ages 50–59 carry most of the burden
The likelihood of those aged 40–49 and 50–59 to be caregivers is substantially higher than for those ages 20–29. “This fact supports what has been found in many other studies – that the main burden falls on those between the ages of 40 and 60, who are often called the “sandwich” generation since they care for young children and older parents, and therefore are the ones who are more likely to crash under the weight of the burden,” says researcher Rachel Arazi.
The chances of someone in Haredi society caring for a family member of any generation is high at about a third of the population —substantially higher than among non-Haredi Jews and Arabs. Among non-Haredi Jews and Arabs the share caring for parents or children are similar, although the likelihood that an individual in Arab society will care for a family member of the same generation — for example, a spouse or sibling — is close to half that of non-Haredi Jews. Moreover, about 82% of Arabs are not involved at all in caregiving, versus about 79% of non-Haredi Jews.
It was also found in the study that married individuals are more likely to care for family member of their generation or from the next generation than unmarried individuals. No differences were found between men and women in the likelihood of caring for a family member.
The amount of time invested in caregiving (number of weekly hours) rises with age, and those with a high school education spend more hours in caregiving than those with a higher education or those without a high school education. Arabs and Haredim spend more time per week caregiving than non-Haredi Jews — 39% of Arabs and 40% of Haredim spend 10 hours or more per week, versus 28% among non-Haredi Jews. Although married individuals spend more time in caregiving to a family member than those not married, 39% of those who are unmarried give 10 hours or more to caregiving, versus 28% of the married individuals. In an examination by gender, it was found that women spend more time caregiving than men — 34% of women give 10 hours or more per week, versus 26% of men.
Employment status has an effect, as expected, on the number of hours devoted to caregiving: 39% of unemployed caregivers spend 10 weekly hours or more in caregiving activities, versus 27% of employed caregivers. While the vast majority of caregivers work — about 88% — respondents claimed that caregiving did not affect their work. Only 5% reported missing days of work, 4% reported missing hours of work, 2% shortened their work hours, and only 1% of caregivers left their place of work due to the responsibilities of caregiving. The chances of someone aged 50–59 reporting about the burden of caregiving is much greater that in other age groups, and women feel that caregiving weighs on them more than men do — 54% versus 47%, respectively.
“One out of every 10 people 20 or older in Israel invests time in long-term caregiving for a family member the equivalent of one day a week. As we showed in the study, the heaviest responsibility for caregiving falls on the 50–59-year-old age group, as is seen in other countries. The most striking finding from the research is the high rate of caregivers among Haredim — about a third of them care for a family member from some generation,” says Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, Chair of the Taub Center Health Policy Program. He adds, “while the majority of caregivers expressed that their work was not harmed by the time spent caregiving, the responsibilities of caregiving nonetheless have an impact on many aspects of life such as career and interpersonal relationships, and additional research is required to understand the social and economic implications of caregiving, particularly among different population groups.”
Prof. Benjamin Bental, Chair of the Taub Center Macro-Economic Policy Program, explained the economic significance of the data: “It appears that caregiving comes at the expense of leisure time for caregivers and so there is little harm to the economy. Nevertheless, some 10% of Israelis of working age invest the equivalent of one day a week in caregiving activities, or about 20% of weekly work hours, so the rough estimate is that roughly 2% of work days are dedicated to long-term caregiving. Since labor contributes about 60% of the GDP, we are talking about a welfare loss equivalent to about 1.2% of GDP.”
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel is an independent, non-partisan socioeconomic research institute. The Center provides decision makers and the public with research and findings on some of the most critical issues facing Israel in the areas of education, health, welfare, labor markets and economic policy in order to impact the decision-making process in Israel and to advance the well-being of all Israelis.