“Low pay, poor working conditions common for long-term care workers: report”

“Low pay, poor working conditions common for long-term care workers: report,” by Kathleen Steele Galvin, McKnight’s Senior Living


Quote:

“Low pay and poor working conditions are the norm for workers in long-term care, according to a report published Wednesday by the think tank Economic Policy Institute. … Their key findings:

  • 9% of long-term care workers are women.
  • 4% are Black women, and 12.8% are immigrant women.
  • $15.22 is the median hourly pay rate, below the US median hourly wage of $20.07.
  • 2% live in poverty, a higher percentage than the poverty rate for all workers (5.3%).
  • 9% are covered by a union contract, a lower rate than the overall workforce (11.9%). …

Increased public funding is an answer to ensuring higher pay, better staffing levels and improved working conditions for workers, according to the researchers. They also called upon policymakers to raise the minimum wage and strengthen protections for workers seeking to organize a union.”

 

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

The kneejerk answer is always to throw more money at the problems. But shouldn’t the first step be to ask why LTC has these problems? The market is dominated by public funding and government regulation. If it is such a mess, do we really believe more public funding and regulation will make it better? To understand what’s wrong and what can fix it, try these studies: Medicaid_and_Long-Term_Care (2020) and How to Fix Long-Term Care Financing (2017).