America needs a plan for caring.

As a society, an economy, and a democracy, we have no plan for care.?

One consequence of an aging population is that more and more people find themselves having to provide care for others. As birth rates decline and life expectancy increases, the nature of care is also changing. Many families are stretched by a combination of childcare, care for people with disabilities, and eldercare. In 2015, it was estimated that 43 million Americans were involved in providing care. Today, that number has more than doubled to approximately 100 million, and this number is increasing at an exponential rate.

No place for care within our economic systems?

There’s a strange anomaly in the way economists calculate economic value. Our economic systems were developed almost exclusively by men and, because of this, they overemphasized the contributions of male roles within business (productivity, manufacturing, and employment, etc.) while generally ignoring the contributions of women (unpaid childcare, feeding, teaching, nurturing, eldercare, healthcare, etc.). Even today, there is practically no appreciation within our economic models for the provision of unpaid household care, without which we would have no functional adults to participate in our economy.

A $10 Trillion devaluation of women’s contribution?

According to the American Survey of Time, women are twice as likely to be the provider of care for a family member than men. Even if men provide some of the care, they spend half as much time providing care as women do. Globally, Oxfam estimates that unpaid care provided by women and girls amounts to 12.5 billion hours every day — if this work were paid, it would amount to a $10.8 trillion industry. In America, this estimation for unpaid care work is $1 trillion, with Asian and Latina women spending more time providing unpaid care.

A plan for care will require caring outcomes in our economic models.

America needs to start recognizing the value and economic contribution of caregivers in the same way we do other valuable sectors such as technology or science. Given the seismic shifts in longevity, it’s not unreasonable to suggest we start talking about a transition to a caring economy in the same way we’ve all been talking about a transition to a future with AI — up skilling, employment transition, and entrepreneurial opportunity. If Accenture is to be believed, an America that cares could give a boost of $3 Trillion to GDP.

Start by standing with the caregivers

Planning for care will require investment in the people (mostly women) who currently shoulder the majority of this burden. We need to see them, hear them, and support the work they do. This means ensuring they are paid fairly for their care contributions, have a work/life balance, work in acceptable conditions, and have the support of employers if caring is not their primary employment and as a carer, occasionally require a paid absence from work.

As with all employment, caregivers should have access to the resources necessary to do their work successfully. They need access to useful and practical tools; job training and education; accurate and trustworthy information; expert guidance and support when required.

An equalization of gender responsibilities

A plan for care also needs to ensure that the burden of care falls equitably on both men and women. To achieve this, all care organizations will need to actively recruit, train, and incentivize men to adopt caring roles —?after all, isn’t men’s carelessness their greatest vulnerability?? When we design business models for future caring businesses and evaluate care businesses for investment, we must ensure they strive towards an equitable gender balance across stakeholders in leadership, board/governance, and all levels of employees. When we represent the ideals of caring in communications, we should showcase men and women in caring roles to chip away at the gender stereotypes that perpetuate this undesirable inequality.??

Set new standards and protect the vulnerable

If we are going to meet the anticipated future needs of care, we will need more affordable, safe, public (shared) and protected areas for caring. There is a huge need for increased capacity in eldercare including in-home, government-supported, and private facilities. Many older people (and their loved ones) live in fear of abuse and neglect because there are few provisions to protect patients from substandard care. Patients and their carers generally feel alone, isolated and unsupported and as a result have very low expectations. They are often kept uninformed of their legal protections; formal evaluations and reviews of care facilities are difficult to find, infrequent, inaccurate, or in some cases, fraudulent. In the long term, the leaders and leading brands of the caring economy will need to address these low expectations and challenge the systemic indifference to caregiving. It’s hard to imagine there are many powerful arguments against the notion of a society that cares and a future where everyone has the right to dignified and respectful care.

I am sure there are many aspects I am leaving out. My old pals at AARP and other experts I've collaborated with in the past will undoubtedly point out the gaps (that's what the comments section is for!). In service of simplicity, I prioritized three dimensions of care that I thought were most important:

What we care with: The tangible, practical, material infrastructure that we need to build.

What we care about: The values we demonstrate in our care. Equity, humanity and dignity.

Who we care for: The community we serve and the community we must build to achieve this outcome.