Millennials’ routine already has a name: “millennial daughter tax”. One of the biggest social and labor crises of the next decade is in sight.
They were born between 1981 and 1996. They are millennials, or generation Y. Many already have elderly parents – and they give up a lot to take care of them.
More and more millennial women are making sacrifices careers, running out savings and to give up stability financial for take care of parents.
The phenomenon already has a name in the USA: “millennial daughter tax” — or “millennial daughters tax“It’s a kind of invisible tax.
The expression describes the economic impact e emotional supported mainly by women who take on the role of primary caregivers in an aging population and without sufficient public responses to continued care.
The report reports cases of women forced to reduce working hours, give up promotions or even completely abandon their careers to accompany parents with degenerative diseases or physical disabilities.
Around 61% of informal caregivers in the United States are women and almost 70% of permanent care is provided by daughters or wives.
One of the highlighted examples is that of Allison Hale, marketing director and single mother of two teenagers; he had to place his mother in a specialized unit for patients with cognitive loss. It’s more than US$9 thousand (more than 7 thousand euros per month), without health insurance reimbursement. In addition to expenses, Hale regularly travels hundreds of miles to accompany her mother and take care of bureaucracy associated with medical care.
The accumulated financial impacts can be devastating. It is estimated that unpaid care work can represent you lose close to 300 thousand dollars (about 250 thousand euros) over a woman’s lifetime: lost wages, missed promotions, and lower retirement contributions.
The situation is made worse because many elderly Americans do not have the financial capacity to support long-term care. And most don’t even know that the Medicare system doesn’t cover most of these services. The annual costs of nursing homes and home support can exceed US$80,000, almost 68,000 euros per year.
On social media and online forums, thousands of women identify with the problem. Many report feelings of exhaustion, guilt and family inequality, pointing out that the responsibility often falls on daughters and not sons.
O aging of the generation baby boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) could transform this reality into one of the biggest social and labor crises of the next decade.
