Sustaining employment and caregiving

Care is essential for social life but it no longer fits into contemporary life as it did in the past. This paper provides an international overview of the current impasse concerning those who are employed and seek to provide care, canvassing current and future possibilities for finding a way through the existing conflicts. With a particular focus on the issues that emerge regarding support of older (aged) care recipients, the paper first considers the demographic, economic and democratic and governmental policy causes of the current problems. It then examines the emerging care gap expressed through the joint crisis of informal and formal care. The final section considers the solutions proposed to help re-embed care in the societies of the 21st century. These include developments related to the workplace and employment, as well as solutions concerned with providing extra services, expanding the care workforce, paying family caregivers and using technology.