Unpaid caregivers as hidden labor

Family members providing daily care for chronically ill or aging relatives constitute a large, unpaid labor pool whose costs (lost earnings, health impacts, substitution for formal services) are dispersed and rarely captured in standard labor or health statistics. Narratives like the PBS/Aeon film make visible that subsidy and could reshape arguments for respite services, caregiver credits, or workplace accommodations. — Framing informal caregiving as a measurable labor subsidy reframes debates on eldercare policy, social insurance, and employment law by making the hidden costs politically legible.