The Call to Care for Aging Parents Comes Sooner Now

As the American population ages, caregivers are growing younger and more burdened, with the National Alliance for Caregiving estimating that millennials now comprise 24 percent of the nation's unpaid caregivers, up from 22 percent of young adult caregivers in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal . Meanwhile, a 2018 AARP Public Policy Report reckons that 6.2 million millennials provide care for a parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent. Caregiving duties can come at critical times in the lives of millennials and threaten to derail expected milestones, such as starting families and buying a house, says University of Southern California Professor Maria Aranda. In addition, millennials are expected to start making decisions about another's life when they are still trying to figure out their own. They also must face financial difficulties, as millennials spend a greater share of their incomes on caregiving than older caregivers and their incomes are on average lower. Moreover, about one in three millennials who are caring for someone with dementia have cut back hours, lost benefits, or been fired because of caregiving demands, according to a 2017 report by UsAgainst Alzheimer's and USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging.