Wages for Home Care Aides Lag as Demand Grows

“Home care aides, mostly women and mostly minorities, represent one of the nation’s fastest-growing occupations, increasing from 700,000 to more than 1.4 million over the past decade. Add the independent caregivers that clients employ directly through public programs, and the total rises to more than two million.” Unfortunately, wages have been stagnant. One can only speculate regarding what this means as more Americans are living beyond their health. Beyond the wage issue, there is a labor capacity issue. Americans are aging at a rate that outpaces our ability to provide care AND fill other higher paying jobs. The immigration debate, which is front and center in this year’s election, ignores the reality that American will either need to import labor to address it’s long-term care needs, or we might need to begin exporting our elderly so they can get care.

P. Span, Wages for Home Care Aides Lag as Demand Grows, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/health/home-care-aides-wages.html?_r=0