A Method for Estimating the Participation Rate of Elder Care

Abstract

This paper focused on estimating the participation rate of care giving to elders. We used a theoretical model frame that was in common use for analyzing activity in the labor market and adjusted it for analyzing the care giving rate in elders. Using data of the rate of start taking care and the rate of end taking care in elders from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe we evaluated the rate of "caregivers" in whole population at age over 50 and among males, females, people in labor force and out of labor force. According to our results, the lowest care rate is among men 16.8%, and the highest is among females 18.88%, while for whole population at age over 50, the care rate is 18.2%. According to our findings, there is a very high end of care rate from treatment in all population groups, pointing to the existence of a very large substitution among caregivers, mainly among people not in labor force (76.2%).