The Effects of Incidence of Care Needs in Households on Employment, Subjective Health, and Life Satisfaction among Middle‐aged Family Members

Abstract

Abstract In this study, based on longitudinal data, we investigate whether Japanese middle‐aged men and women become less likely to have a job and whether their sense of well‐being decreases when they have a family member who needs care. We find a consistent negative impact of having a family member who needs care on employment, but no impact on subjective health and life satisfaction. Further, the differences‐in‐differences ( DID ) estimation, based on both unmatched and matched data, shows that the Long‐Term Care Insurance ( LTCI ) introduced in 2000 did not mitigate the adverse impact on the probability of being employed.