Objectives: To provide nationally representative estimates of the opportunity costs of informal elder-care in the United States.
Data sources: Data from the 2011 and 2012 American Time Use Survey.
Study design: Wage is used as the measure of an individual's value of time (opportunity cost), with wages being imputed for nonworking individuals using a selection-corrected regression methodology.
Principal findings: The total opportunity costs of informal elder-care amount to $522 billion annually, while the costs of replacing this care by unskilled and skilled paid care are $221 billion and $642 billion, respectively.
Conclusions: Informal caregiving remains a significant phenomenon in the United States with a high opportunity cost, although it remains more economical (in the aggregate) than skilled paid care.
Keywords: Informal caregiving; elder-care; opportunity cost.
© Health Research and Educational Trust.