Overview

Over the past several decades, the rate of growth of the elderly population in Colorado has dramatically outpaced the national average. With this demographic shift, elder care and senior issues have become increasingly central to the well-being of the state as a whole. Unfortunately, policies set by employers and legislators tend to ignore the needs of this expanding population, leaving seniors and their families largely unsupported. Coloradans need legislation and private-sector reforms to lessen financial burdens, improve access to health care, and provide social and practical support for the elderly and the thousands of professional and unpaid caregivers who provide essential health, emotional, social, and basic daily services in Colorado.

• In 1999, there were 407,773 people over the age of 65 living in Colorado. 57.3% of them were women. 70% of those Coloradans over the age of 85 were women. (US Census Bureau, Population Division)

Elder care and senior issues are particularly important to women, who constitute a majority of the state’s elderly population. Because women tend to live longer than men do, they constitute a significant majority of the elderly, especially highest-needs elderly. They are therefore disproportionately represented among those requiring assistance from state programs, professional caregivers or friends and family. Additionally, retired women tend to be less economically self-sufficient than men, making them even more dependent on assistance from outside sources.

As more and more people live long enough to experience multiple, chronic illnesses, disability, and dependency, there will be more and more younger relatives who will be facing the concern and expense of caring for aging parents. The vast majority of these informal caregivers are women, many of whom find it difficult to balance elder care and other family responsibilities with their careers. Difficulty achieving a work-family balance results in substantial economic losses to both employers and caregivers. Women need both the public and the private sectors to support them by improving access to elder day care facilities, increasing job flexibility, and strengthening professional home-care and assisted-living programs.

Professional elder care workers are also predominantly women, and their wages are some of the lowest in the state. Additional training for these workers and strict licensing and review procedures for elder care facilities and businesses could both improve the quality of care available to the elderly and raise prestige and wages for this essential, but undervalued, profession.

Elderly Population Growth

• Between 1990 and 1998, Colorado’s elderly population grew by 21.4% to a total of 401,784 persons, constituting 10.1% of the state’s population. (Population Reference Bureau, October 1999, Population Today)
• By the year 2020, the Census Bureau projects that 14% of Colorado’s population, or 743,000 individuals will be over the age of 65. (www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-80.html)
• Seniors are already the fastest growing of all demographic groups in Colorado, and in ten years the first of the baby boomers will retire.

Unpaid Caregivers

• According to a recent study by the National Association for Caregiving and the American Association of Retired Persons, more than 22 million US households –one in four-- provided informal, unpaid care to a friend or relative over 50 in 1996. Seventy-two percent of those caregivers were women. ("Family Caregiving in the US," 1997)
• The same study revealed that sixty-four percent of informal caregivers for the elderly are working full- or part-time, and 41% of caregivers are caring for children under 18 at the same time.

Elderly Women

• Currently, 11.5% of all Colorado women are older than age 65. (US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1999)
• According to the national Administration on Aging, eight out of ten non-institutionalized elderly who lived alone in 1993 were women.
• Over 75% of Colorado’s elderly residents rely primarily on informal elder care usually provided by female friends or relatives.
• Seventy-two percent of elders receiving care from friends or relatives in 1996 were female, according to a study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the American Association of Retired Persons. ("Family Caregiving in the US")
• As women grow older, they are more likely than men to live alone on reduced incomes and to depend on assistance from friends and relatives. Eighty percent of elderly living alone nationwide in 1993 were women. (US Census Bureau, May 1995 Statistical Brief Sixty-five plus in the United States)

Balancing Work and Family

• Since most employers offer little flexibility in work schedules and demands, caregiving often results in interrupted income and sidetracked careers when women sacrifice educational opportunities and job advancement, quit work, work fewer hours, or take time off without pay to care for elderly relatives.
• In a 1997 survey of employed caregivers, 52% reported having to leave work early, arrive late, or take time off as a result of caregiving. 10% reported taking a leave of absence. ("Comparative Analysis of Caregiver Data for Caregivers to the Elderly 1987 and 1997," National Alliance for Caregiving, 1997)
• In 1994, only 33 percent of full-time employees in small private establishments were eligible for elder care benefits in the form of paid leave, paid leave of absence policies, employer-sponsored adult day care centers and employer-subsidized day care for the elderly. (Employee Benefits Survey: A BLS Reader, Bulletin 2459, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 1995)
• The Business and Professional Women’s Foundation reported in 1997 that women are out of the workforce approximately 11½ years over the course of their working lives, primarily because of caregiving responsibilities, while men are out of the workforce only 1 1/3 years. ("101 Facts on the Status of Working Women")

Costs of Elder Care

• A September 8, 1998 study commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Association revealed that caregiver absenteeism and lost productivity related to their absence costs employers $33 billion a year.

• About half of employed caregivers report taking time off, coming in late, or working fewer hours because of caregiving responsibilities. Six percent give up work entirely, and 3.6% take early retirement. Of those who quit full- and part-time jobs, the average loss of annual income is $20,400. (NAC/AARP, 1997)

• According to the Altzheimer’s Association, the care provided by informal, unpaid caregivers in the US was worth $196 billion in 1997, based on the number of hours worked and an average of the minimum wage and home care wages. In Colorado alone, 374,758 unpaid caregivers provided 348.8 million hours --$2.853.4 million worth-- of care to the elderly in 1997. ("Economic Value of Informal Caregiving in the United States, by States," March 1999)

Policy Recommendations