As Labor Crunch Tightens, Employers Offer More Flexibility to Those Serving as Family Caregivers

Hundreds of thousands of professionals in Massachusetts have had to juggle their career demands with caring for aging parents, and employers are starting to take these pressures into consideration amid labor shortages, reports the Boston Globe . With the state's unemployment rate falling below 3 percent, many employers are looking to accommodate working caregivers through more family-friendly leave perks and additional flexibility about when and where employees work. In November, business leaders joined with their healthcare, education, and government peers to roll out a Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition to better support employees in this regard. The working caregiver population is growing partly because the over-65 populace is living longer than generations past. In addition, families are more spread out, and more workers are having children later.