Working and caring : reconciliation measures in times of demographic change

As the average age of the European population and of the European workforce rises, more people of working age will have to combine employment with the provision of care, especially to elderly relatives. There are many actors and institutions involved in organising such care, and many institutional frameworks governing the issue of reconciling care and employment. This study shows the challenges involved in combining work and care, and what measures are available to working carers to allow them to balance these demands. Such measures may be contained in national labour legislation, collective agreements or company initiatives - or in a combination of the three. While a few EU Member States are much further along than others in terms of enabling people to combine working life with care, a great deal remains to be done in all countries to enable working carers to remain in the job market while meeting the demands of looking after a relative at home.