As hundreds of carers quit the workforce every day, leaving families at breaking point, it’s time to fix the safety net
What would drive thousands of people a year out of jobs they love, or need, with no certainty about whether they will ever be able to come back?
If you have parents of a certain age, you might already have guessed the answer. About 600 people a day are giving up their jobs to look after elderly or sick relatives, the charity Carers UK estimates, a hidden exodus from working life that we don’t discuss nearly enough. Young women are bombarded practically from the cradle with conflicting advice about how to “have it all” as working mothers, yet hear almost nothing about coping as working daughters in an age of unravelling safety nets. (And yes, about 42% of carers are male, which means many thousands of men are also toiling unpaid round the clock; but women are statistically more likely to care for parents and men for spouses, meaning men are more likely to care in retirement and women when they are still young enough to be working).
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GfXCmz
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