Do informal carers of adults with mental illness experience employment disadvantage?

A Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research study has found that mental health carers experience significant employment disadvantage in comparison to non-carers.

Dr Sandra Diminic, Dr Emily Heilscher and Associate Professor Meredith Harris analysed the 2015 Australian Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers and found employment patterns for working-age, co-resident carers of adults with mental illness and found that more mental health carers were unemployed than non-carers and more likely to work less than 16 hours a week.

In comparison to carers of people with physical or cognitive disabilities, no differences were found, except that mental health carers were more likely to work lower-skilled jobs.

The study: Employment Disadvantage and associated factors for informal carers of adults with mental illness: are they like other disability carers?, was published in the Journal, BMC Public Health in 2019.