Employers should let staff who care for elderly parents choose their working hours, the health secretary has said.
Jeremy Hunt said Britain was facing a "dementia time bomb" and said many employers were not doing enough to offer flexible working hours to carers.
He told the Daily Telegraph the country could not afford to lose experienced workers who double as carers.
Meanwhile, a report has warned England is facing a shortfall in the number of people able to give vital unpaid care.
Mr Hunt said many workers doubled as carers for people with dementia and, with the number of sufferers expected to rise from about 800,000 now to more than a million by the end of the decade, employers must help carers stay in work.
"A lot of employers have embraced flexible working policies, but some are simply not prepared for the scale of the dementia time bomb," Mr Hunt to the Telegraph.
"None of us can afford to ignore this problem."
He added: "We know that supporting flexible working for parents is good for business and good for the economy, it is time the same was recognised for carers."
He said leaving carers to balance work and care responsibilities created a "lose-lose situation".
The Work and Families Act 2006 gives carers the right to request changes to their working patterns to better manage their caring.
Employers can only reject such requests based on reasons listed in the act, most of which relate to negative effect on the business.
Growing gapEnd Quote Michelle Mitchell Age UKThese projections once again underline the huge importance of ending the crisis in social care"
Meanwhile, research by the London School of Economics (LSE) suggested a gap between the number of frail elderly people in need of care and those able to provide it free would begin to become evident in England by 2017.
By 2032, 160,000 elderly people could be left without the support they need - about one in seven of those who will need help, the researchers predicted.
This is because the oldest age groups will grow at the fastest rate.
LSE used population projections and survey data to compile the figures.
An estimated 675,000 older people currently rely on unpaid carers - mainly their children - as they fall outside the state support system, which is available to the poorest.
But with the number of over-85s expected to rise at three times the rate of the 50- to 64-year-old age group - the key carers for elderly people - a shortfall will emerge.
'Stressed staff'Carers UK chief executive Helena Herklots said the problem could have a profound impact on society.
"In addition to the personal costs to families, the costs will be felt across society and public services - more and more older people admitted to hospitals needing avoidable emergency care, businesses coping with stressed staff trying to care alongside work and the economy suffering as increasing numbers of workers are forced to quit work to care," she said.
Age UK charity director Michelle Mitchell added: "These projections once again underline the huge importance of ending the crisis in social care."
The warning comes despite the plans to introduce a cap on care costs, because that will apply those who are in care homes.
The 2011 census revealed that, at the time of the survey, 5.8m people in England and Wales provided some level of unpaid care for disabled, sick or elderly relatives - and 2.1m of those provided more than 20 hours of care per week.
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