A specific type of fatigue does not appear on a medical record. It is evident in the face of someone who worked eight hours at the office, made dinner, drove across town to see how an elderly parent was doing, sorted medications, and then sat down, too exhausted to sleep, wondering how much longer they could continue. That’s not a bad week for millions of Gen X adults. It’s only Tuesday.
Those born between 1965 and 1980, or Generation X, are stuck in a situation that seems to be intended to break people. They are old enough to have elderly parents who require genuine, ongoing care. They feel pressure to continue working, saving, and climbing because they are young enough that retirement is still ten or more years away. Additionally, a lot of people continue to support young adults at home or raise children. The term “sandwich generation” is not metaphorical. It accurately depicts their financial, professional, and health circumstances.
The International Longevity Center’s research presents a rather bleak picture. Fifty-six percent of Gen X carers are concerned about their retirement. Two-thirds say they wish they could save more money but are unable to. A quarter directly attribute their reduced capacity to work to caregiving obligations. The most telling statistic is that one-third of them are so preoccupied with the day-to-day responsibilities of caregiving that they haven’t had time to consider retirement planning. Not because they don’t give a damn. Because there really isn’t any room left.
Financial calculations are harsh. Unpaid carers of elderly relatives are losing an average of £522 per month in reduced income, or about £6,268 annually, according to research from retirement firm Just Group. In order to provide care, nearly four out of ten have either cut back on their hours or quit their jobs completely. The figures are more startling for those who are the only caregivers: 14% have completely quit their jobs. As Emma Walker of Just Group pointed out, this usually occurs around the time people reach their peak earning years, which is when most financial plans assume you’ll be actively accumulating your pension fund and paying off your mortgage.
Policymakers may be underestimating how subtly this crisis worsens. Every year that a caregiver works fewer hours results in lower pension contributions, less employer matching, and a greater distance from financial stability. Without anyone taking a decisive action, the cumulative gap widens. People simply get by. Travel to appointments, groceries picked up along the way, and other expenses totaling an average of £100 per month—or more for many—are all absorbed by them. And they continue because there is no other option.
As is often the case with unpaid care, women bear a disproportionate share of this burden. Three million of the five million unpaid caregivers in England and Wales are women. This contributes directly to the gender pension gap, which results in median defined contribution pension savings of £75,000 for men and £19,000 for women by the age of 59. These figures are not the result of individual failure but rather decades of systemic pressure. The financial services sector still doesn’t seem to have fully considered the implications of this or how to address it.
The fact that providing care feels—and frequently is—the right thing to do makes this especially challenging to address. The majority of caregivers for elderly parents don’t harbor resentment. They’re worn out and struggling financially, but they’re glad they came. The issue is that appearing in this manner is not rewarded by the economic system. It subtly and persistently penalizes it through missed contributions, lost wages, and long-lasting health effects on caregivers. Compared to slightly more than one-third of non-carers, more than half of Gen X carers report having poor health. The cost is not only monetary but also physical.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that those who are bearing this pressure have very little institutional support. While some companies have made progress, such as Phoenix Group, which increased paid caregivers’ leave to ten days, these are still the exception. Although the pandemic has shown that flexible work arrangements are much more feasible than many organizations had previously claimed, they have not yet become the standard. Every day, an estimated 600 people with caregiving responsibilities quit their jobs. That is not an individual decision. People are not being held in place by that system.
A retirement planning lecture is probably not what Gen X caregivers need most right now. They are aware. The majority of them are aware of precisely what they are lacking and why. They require a policy that views caregiving as the social and economic contribution that it truly is, rather than as a personal arrangement that employees try to fit around their jobs.
