“Sandwiched” between unpaid care for children and care-dependent adults: A gender-based study

Care is a pressing issue in Canada, with important consequences for economic issues, societal inequalities, and the well-being of Canadians. Although issues related to needs for care have existed for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified these demands and shone a light on the importance of the care economy for the wellbeing and economic prosperity of Canadians. Indeed, in the past several years, a growing group of researchers, policymakers, and advocates in Canada and internationally have called for more attention to the care economy.

This study uses data collected in 2022 from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) Wave 6 (Well-being and caregiving) to explore unpaid caregiving for care-dependent adults and children in Canada, including being “sandwiched” between multiple responsibilities for different care-dependent groups. The CSS Wave 6 is the only survey at Statistics Canada that asks about both unpaid care to children under age 15 as well as care-dependent adults in the past 12 months, providing a comprehensive look at unpaid caregiving. This study addresses three key research questions on unpaid caregiving in Canada in 2022. First, who provides unpaid care in Canada? Second, how much unpaid care is provided and to whom? Third, what are the impacts of providing unpaid care on caregivers?

You can read the report below, or on the StatsCan website.