Spousal caregivers had lower levels of retirement assets and lessincome than married noncaregivers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Family caregivers' retirement is at risk if they must cut their working hours or pay for caregiving expenses in providing care toelderly parents or spouses.

That's according to GAO-19-382, “Retirement Security: Some Parental andSpousal Caregivers Face Financial Risks,” which finds that Bureauof Labor Statistics data indicate that an estimated tenth ofAmericans provided care to a parent or spouse for some period oftime from 2011 through 2017, with women and minority caregiversbeing the most likely to be the ones providing care.

In addition, those providing such care were older than thegeneral population, with spousal caregivers being the oldest, andsome of those providing care ended up with less in retirementassets and income than those who did not.

They also had to curtail work to provide care, and thatpenalized them in the workplace.

The report cited a 2015 caregiving-specific study that found foran estimated 68 percent of working parental and spousal caregivers,offering care took a toll on their jobs; they ended up going towork late, leaving early, or taking time off during the day toprovide care.

Spousal caregivers suffered more in this arena than parentalcaregivers, at 81 percent compared with 65 percent.

And that played out in the money field, too, with data from2002–2014 from the Health and Retirement Study indicating thatspousal caregivers ages 59–66 had lower levels of retirement assetsand less income than married noncaregivers of the same ages.

Specifically, the report found, spousal caregivers had anestimated 50 percent less in individual retirement account assets;39 percent less in non-IRA assets; and 11 percent less in SocialSecurity income.

However, it added, “caregiving may not be the cause of theseresults as there are challenges to isolating the effect ofcaregiving from other factors that could affect retirement assetsand income.”

There are actions that can improve the financial situation ofcaregivers. The report suggests four policy changes that could makea difference, as well as public awareness initiatives that couldhelp people understand what they're letting themselves in forfinancially by providing care.

The policies that could help caregivers were steps to cut theirout-of-pocket expenses; increase their attachment to the workforcewhile preserving their wages; increase their access and/orcontributions to retirement accounts; and increase their SocialSecurity benefits.