Plunge in stay-at-home carers amid cost-of-living crisis
Dive into stay-at-home carers amid cost-of-living crisis: Number of people putting work on hold to care for family falls by 250,000 in last three years
- ONS compared the actual economic inactivity figures with a demographic model
- Found that there are far fewer stay-at-home carers than expected changes
The number of stay-at-home caregivers has fallen amid the cost-of-living crisis, it has been revealed.
The huge drop of a quarter of a million compared to three years ago has been identified in a new analysis by the Office for National Statistics.
The body modeled how demographics should affect economic inactivity numbers — people not working despite being of working age — and then compared those estimates to what actually happened.
The model estimated that the number of devotees caring for their families or homes should increase by 18,000 between 2019 and 2022.
But in fact, that category saw a dramatic plunge from 251,000, offsetting a much broader rise in post-Covid inactivity figures that ministers were scrambling to address.
“The reasons for this decline are not fully known, but possible contributing factors include behavioral changes and a declining number of births over the past decade,” the ONS admitted.
Families are under mounting pressure as inflation has soared in the wake of the pandemic. Surveys have increasingly shown that people are struggling to make ends meet with energy and food bills rising at an eye-popping rate.
Despite the rise, the inactivity rate seems to have been offset by a dramatic drop in the number of stay-at-home parents
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) modeled how factors such as population aging should affect the workforce, then compared those estimates to what actually happened
The ONS article found that only 59 percent of the surge of half a million in those classified as economically inactive over the past three years can be explained by demographic change.
It concluded that in total about 200,000 of the increase was not due to demographics.
That change was almost entirely focused on two age groups. In the 18-24 age group, inactivity would fall by 18,000, but in the third quarter of last year, inactivity had risen by 29,000.
In the 45-59 age group, there would be a drop of 5,000 inactivity, but the number actually rose to 200,000.
The article examined the reasons for inactivity and found that the number of long-term sick people had increased by 462,000 in three years. The model suggested that the figure should have been only 41,000.
In the younger age groups, increases were attributed to more students, but also to an increase in ‘mental and nervous disorders’.
In the older age group, the problems seem to be more related to health than early retirement, as suggested earlier.
It was mainly attributed to ‘other health problems or disabilities’ – which may include long-term Covid – and ‘problems related to back or neck’.
There was a peak of 44,000 inactives due to early retirement, but the demographic model suggested this figure should have been 87,000.
“The increase in the number of people retiring early may be smaller than expected due to recent policy changes around the state pension age,” the article said.
Worryingly, the ONS projections showed that based on population changes alone, inactivity could add another 317,000 by 2026
‘People aged 64 now have to finance themselves for longer in order to take early retirement than was the case before 2019.’
Worryingly, the ONS projections showed that based on population changes alone, inactivity could see a further increase of 317,000 by 2026. As of the third quarter of last year, the level stood at nine million.