Bloomberg Profiles Direct Care Workforce

ANCOR is sharing this article by Bloomberg because the home health aide workforce that it describes includes Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), who provide the core of the supports our members offer to people with disabilities. The low wages described in the article are a key reason there is a 45 percent annual turnover rate among DSPs, leading to a severe workforce crisis in disability supports which affects the well-being of individuals supported.

As written by Bloomberg (please go to above link to see charts):

“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment to grow 0.5% or by 8.4 million jobs to 169.4 million jobs from 2018 to 2028. This is slower than the 0.8% annual payrolls growth rate from 2008 to 2018.

Many occupations are projected to see significant growth in the near future. Solar photovoltaic installers are expected to see the largest percentage increase in demand. The largest gains are expected in the personal care and home health aide fields — jobs that pay a median wage of $24,200 or less.

That’s according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting the hottest labor markets through 2028.

More than half of employment growth is expected in the health care and social assistance, private educational services and construction fields. An aging population and the increase in people with chronic conditions is driving much of the growth in health care services. Home health aides is once again one of the fastest growing professions.

Retail trade, wholesale trade, utilities, federal government, and manufacturing are all expecting a decline in jobs. Retail trade is projected to decline by 0.1% annually, resulting in an employment decrease of 153,700 jobs.

The BLS notes that one factor contributing to the decline in the retail sector is the ongoing shift to e-commerce.

The manufacturing sector is expected to lose 640,700 jobs between 2018 and 2028.

The labor force participation rate for workers 65 and over is expected to increase to 23.3% by 2028. The share of workers ages 55 and older is projected to increase from 23.1% to 25.2% over the decade.

The labor force participation rate for younger workers, those ages 16 to 24, is projected to decline to 51.7%. This decline may be attributed to additional time spent in school and competition with older workers to fill jobs historically held by younger workers, according to the report.”