The Direct Care Workforce-Raising the Floor of Job Quality

While the demand for direct care workers continues to rise, their real wages continue to fall, creating an unstable workforce that threatens continuity and quality of care. This situation continues because those paying for caregiving-policy makers, insurers, employers, consumers-are powerful stakeholders, while direct care workers are politically and economically powerless. But the landscape of eldercare in the United States is shifting, and the triple threat of increased rate of demand, constricted supply, and falling unemployment will create vacancies. To address this threat, direct care jobs must have competitive wages and benefits and stable, predictable hours.