Over the course of the next decade, the direct care workforce is expected to see enormous growth.
Despite projections, low wages and other challenges continue to plague the workforce, further compounding the recruitment and retention issues seen across the home-based care space.
That’s the key takeaway from a recent report from PHI, a New York-based direct care workers advocacy organization that conducts research and analysis.
“Home care workers continue to be an essential and growing U.S. workforce,” Robert Espinoza, executive vice president of policy at PHI, told Home Health Care News. “The research shows that median wages for direct care workers are inadequate. Many of them live in – or are near – poverty, and they rely on public assistance just to survive.”
Though the direct care workforce had seen incremental wage growth due to state and federal investments in Medicaid funding, the scaling back of these supports has meant a major slowdown in wage growth, according to the report.
Specifically, wages for direct care workers went up by $0.68 per hour in 2020, but in 2021, the median hourly wage for direct care workers increased by only $0.07 per hour. It increased by $0.02 per hour in 2022.
Overall, the median annual income for these workers is $23,688. Home care workers, in particular, earn a median annual income of $20,599.
As a result, 42% of home care workers live below the poverty line, and 55% are utilizing public assistance, such as Medicaid, food assistance or cash assistance, according to the report.
In addition to the low wages, PHI also found that 16% of home care workers work over 40 hours per week.
While these challenges persist, the home care workforce is estimated to add more than 900,000 new positions from 2021 to 2031 — outpacing any other occupation in the country.
Plus, from 2021 to 2031, the home care industry will have almost 5.5 million total positions open. Roughly 2 million of these job openings are due to workers leaving and getting into other professions, and more than 2 million will leave the labor force entirely.
“In several studies, home care workers often cite inadequate compensation as one of the primary reasons they are leaving these roles,” Espinoza said. “You can see it because, oftentimes, they’re leaving for occupations that pay modestly higher wages, like fast food, like retail, etcetera. They’re leaving for McDonald’s and Macy’s, so wages are a very important piece of it.”
Espinoza noted that things like health care coverage, child care support, adequate training and advancement opportunities are also important factors in retaining and recruiting home care workers.
Home care comes in second for among all U.S. occupations for total job openings, according to the report.
Ultimately, Espinoza urged home care employers to think about compensation, but also to build a strong culture for workers.
“[They] should be thinking about how to create a culture within agencies that supports workers, centers their needs and their aspirations, and really integrates their values into all aspects of the organization,” he said.
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