- People caring for adult kids or elderly parents are deemed ‘sandwich generation’
- Government policies forcing elderly people into independence more frequently
- Financial struggles of young adults forcing them to live at family home longer
- Experts say the problem is going to get much worse ‘before it gets better’
People caring for their adult children or elderly parents are being deemed the ‘sandwich generation’ and it’s a problem that’s growing.
Generation Xers and Baby Boomers are being forced to care for their families longer as the population ages and the government decides to keep elderly out of nursing homes.
Adult children are also less likely to move out of their ageing parent’s homes due to growing financial, or emotional, pressures according to Daily Telegraph.
Generation Xers and Baby Boomers are being forced to care for their families longer government decides to keep elderly out of nursing homes (stock image)
People left caring for their adult children or elderly parents at home are deemed the ‘sandwich generation’ (stock image)
‘The sandwich generation has created larger households than we otherwise would have had, and is set to continue,’ social researcher Mark McCrindle told the publication.
Mr McCrindle said government policies encouraged older people not to rely on institutional care and live independently, causing their children to step in and lend a helping hand.
However, people stuck in the middle of the sandwich were those financially struggling with high house debts combined with the rising cost of living while income remained stagnant.
Catapult Wealth director Tony Catt told the publication that people were starting their retirement plans later in life because parents were more often having to care for their adult children still living at home, an issue than is going to get ‘worse before it gets better’.
Mr McCrindle said government policies encouraged older people not to rely on institutional care and live independently (stock image)
Melbourne Institute research found non-traditional households had become more popular over the last 15 years (stock image)
Melbourne Institute research found non-traditional households had become more popular over the last 15 years.
The study found males between 22 and 25-years-old were the bigger culprits when it came to living with their parents, with 60 per cent of men still at home – up from 43 per cent.
Only 48 per cent of women in the same age bracket continued to live at home, which has almost doubled in the last 15 years.