More Than One in Ten U.S. Parents Are Also Caring for an Adult

A study by the Pew Research Center estimated that 29 percent of U.S. adults have a child younger than 18 at home, and 12 percent also care for an adult. Pew's analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found these caregivers provide more than two and a half hours of unpaid daily care, on average. Multigenerational caregiver parents spend slightly more than an hour each day performing adult care in addition to child care. Such caregiving can include hands-on assistance with dressing, eating, or healthcare; transportation to appointments; or maintaining the homes or finances of those getting care. In addition to caring for both children and adults, multigenerational caregivers spend an average of three hours and 17 minutes daily on paid employment, which is 86 fewer minutes a day than parents who are not also caring for adults. Overall, the time engaged varies somewhat across different demographics, mostly due to differences in the amount of time caring for children. Stay-at-home parents, most of whom are mothers, spend about 90 minutes more each day providing unpaid care to both children and adults than their employed peers. It is, however, notable that employed multigenerational caregivers still spend more than two hours each day on unpaid care, in addition to their paid work.