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ISSUE BRIEFS: U.S. Faces Looming Care Gap

March 5, 2014

The U.S. is currently unprepared to care for its rising population of elders, a series of issue briefs by the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA) shows.

The series of briefs breaks down the looming “care gaps” in each state, using information from a variety of sources, including PHI.

Nationally, the elder population is expected to increase by more than 77 percent between 2010 and 2030, while the population of women age 25 to 44 — the demographic group most likely to become direct-care workers — will grow by only 7 percent during that same time frame.

“Nationwide we will require over a million new direct-care workers alone to provide critical care to people with long-term care needs,” said PHI National Policy Director and EWA Public Policy Committee chair Steve Edelstein.

The issue briefs also provide statistics on geriatricians and family caregivers in each state. Nationally, an estimated 42.1 million family caregivers provided more than 40 billion hours of unpaid care in 2009.

PHI is a member of the EWA, a coalition of 30 national organizations committed to strengthening the workforce trained to care for older adults.

— by Matthew Ozga

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