Caregiving is still mostly a woman's job and many women are putting their career and financial futures on hold as they juggle part-time caregiving and full-time job requirements. This is the reality reported in Caregiving in the U.S. 2009, the most comprehensive examination to date of caregiving in America. The sweeping study of the legions of people caring for adults, the elderly and children with special needs reveals that 29% of the U.S. adult population, or 65.7 million people, are caregivers, including 31% of all households. These caregivers provide an average of 20 hours of care per week.

Caregiving in the U.S. 2009, which was funded by MetLife Foundation and conducted for the National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP by Matthew Greenwald & Associates, is the result of interviews with 1,480 caregivers chosen at random. The study was designed to replicate similar studies conducted in 2004 and 1997 and includes, for the first time, a sampling of those caring for children as well as those caring for adults over the age of 18 (abstract from: http://www.caregiving.org/).

Full report available at:
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/caregiving_09_fr.pdf

Executiove summary available at: