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Caring for the Future: The Power and Potential of America’s Direct Care Workforce

Our new policy report takes an extensive look at today’s direct care workforce—and the industry shaping these jobs.

Direct care workers represent the paid frontline of support for millions of older people and people with disabilities.

Yet despite their profound value, these workers struggle in poor-quality jobs, which drives many of them away from these roles. A large-scale intervention is needed to ensure individuals receive the care they need.

Caring for the Future: The Power and Potential of America’s Direct Care Workforce offers a comprehensive, current-day analysis of the direct care workforce and its critical role in the long-term care system. This report will be released in five parts, detailed below. To complement the report, we’ve launched an online dialogue about the current state of direct care workers—join the conversation on Twitter at #CaringForTheFuture.

This report was made possible through generous support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Woodcock Foundation, and The John A. Hartford Foundation.

Caring for the Future: The Power and Potential of America’s Direct Care Workforce
Full Report January 12, 2021

Caring for the Future: The Power and Potential of America’s Direct Care Workforce

This full report—which can be downloaded at the top of this page—combines the four previous sections and offers a comprehensive set of recommendations for policy and practice.

Caring for the Future

Our new policy report takes an extensive look at today's direct care workforce—in five installments.

Workforce Data Center

From wages to employment statistics, find the latest data on the direct care workforce.