Tracy Dudzinski
I recently spoke with journalist Beth Baker, who wrote an article for Ms. Magazine on trends and challenges in the direct care profession. Here’s an excerpt of the article below. You can read the complete article here.
Those who care for our elders continue to be stuck at the bottom as far as wages and respect [PDF], despite rapidly growing need for their services. No matter the setting in which they work—nursing homes, assisted living, individual homes—direct care workers are low-paid, often without health insurance and confronted with back-breaking labor and challenging clients with complex medical needs. And, no surprise, nearly 9 out of 10 direct-care workers are women, 30 percent are African-American and 21 percent are immigrants [PDF]. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, the elder care field is among the fastest-growing in the nation, with 50 percent growth from 2008 to 2018 predicted for home-care workers. But we’re doing little to attract people to these critical jobs. We reward women like Tracy with wages of less than $10 an hour. And Tracy, whose husband is on disability, is the sole breadwinner for her family of four children. Like another heavily-female occupation–child care–our nation expects caregivers to subsidize these services with their low wages. Read the full article here.
Tracy, a great article, filled with truths about the direct care workforce. Keep up the great work!
Tracy,
Great article, one would think this would be a pressing issue in the health care field (lack of workers) but as usual it seems it won’t be in the fore front of national attention until the situation is at it’s most critical!