Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2019 8:17 PM
From 2007 to 2017 the home care workforce doubled due to 10,000 people turning 65 every day. However, there is an unfinished shift of resources from institutional settings to home-and-community-based settings.
“Over 2.1 million home care workers provide health care and personal assistance to the elderly and disabled, according to “U.S. Home Care Workers: Key Facts”, a report from PHI. That number is expected to grow rapidly, since the population of people age 65 and older will almost double to 88 million by 2050.”
However, home care employers are still struggling to meet the demand. Almost ninety percent of home care workers are women with an average age of 47. About forty percent of home care workers are white, 27 percent African-American, 22 percent Latino, and eight percent Asian or Pacific Islander.
“Over 25 percent of home care workers were born outside the United States and almost one-third speak limited or no English. Eight-six percent of home care workers are U.S. citizens, with 71 percent a citizen by birth and 16 percent by naturalization.
Almost 20 percent of home care workers have an Associate’s Degree or a college degree, while another 29 percent have at least some college, but no higher degree. The largest group, 35 percent, are high school graduates.
The 2.1 million home care workers is a huge increase over the 840,000 that existed in 2007, with personal care aides accounting form more than 75 percent of this growth, due to rapidly increasing demand for non-medical support in the home.
That 2.1-million-person population comprises nearly half of the entire direct care workforce of 4.3 million, making home care workers easily the single largest group in that workforce.”
Due to the increasing need going forward, home care agencies are going to have to look outside the traditional pool of prospects.
Source: NAHC Report
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