FACT SHEET: Latest Information about the Direct-Care Workforce

The latest information on the direct-care workforce is now available in the newly updated PHI fact sheet, Facts 3: America’s Direct-Care Workforce.

The fact sheet notes that the direct-care workforce, at more than 4 million strong, is already one of the country’s largest — yet demand for direct-care workers shows no sign of abating.

In fact, demand is projected to increase sharply over the next several years. By 2020, demand for personal care aides will go up 71 percent, while demand for home health aides is expected to increase by 69 percent.

At nearly 5 million workers total, the direct-care workforce is expected to be the nation’s single largest occupational grouping by 2020.

However, wages continue to decline for direct-care workers, the fact sheet points out. Personal care aides earned just $9.57 an hour in 2012, down from an inflation-adjusted mark of $10.04 in 2002.

Home health aides, meanwhile, saw their inflation-adjusted average hourly wages decline from $11.19 in 2002 to $10.01 in 2012.

PHI Facts 3 also includes “Direct-Care Workers at a Glance,” which lays out all the relevant workforce-related statistics in easy-to-read infographic form.

— by Matthew Ozga