Characteristics of workers in services for elderly people in Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain and Hungary

Demographic and social changes such as longer life expectancy, changes in patterns of family caring and increased rates of employment among mothers mean that demand for care work services will grow in the foreseeable future. Change produces not only new needs and expectations, but new understandings of care and its relationship to other fields of human welfare, including education and health. The paper studies the social-economic status of Swedish, English, Spanish and Hungarian care workers in the field of elderly care, what kind of career led them to work with the elderly, how they think about social care and the importance of their work, how they harmonize work and family life. Finally, few questions surface about the future challenges working with the elderly, independent of social care model or welfare system in the four countries.