Abstract: This report explores one potential solution to the mounting home care labor shortage in New York State: substantially raising wages for the state’s home care workers. The analysis presents detailed projections, based on the best available data, of the economic effects of such an intervention, estimating the costs and benefits that would result. We find that public funding for wage increases and health insurance coverage for the State’s home care workers would require significant resources, but those costs would be more than offset by the resulting savings, tax revenues, and economic spillover effects.
Profile of San Francisco Domestic Workers
December 2020
Abstract: Domestic workers are integral to the social and economic fabric of San Francisco. This research brief, based on an ongoing study, outlines the demographic composition and employment conditions of this workforce. The analysis draws upon U.S. Census Bureau data, Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and an original survey of over 200 domestic workers employed in San Francisco.
Unprotected on the Job: How Exclusion from Safety and Health Laws Harms California Domestic Workers
September 2020
Abstract: Since its creation in 1973, California’s Occupational Safety and Health Act has excluded an entire class of workers—those employed in private households as nannies, housecleaners, home care aides, and home attendants. This report documents the human cost of their exclusion at a time when COVID-19 and ecological disaster compound typical workplace hazards. Based on a recent survey of over 700 domestic workers across the Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas, the report offers a large-scale snapshot of safety and health challenges faced by this workforce. Findings demonstrate that job-related injuries, illness, and violence are common; that employers rarely provide safety training or personal protective equipment; and that economic necessity drives workers to endure these conditions. To mitigate adverse safety and health outcomes, and to end nearly fifty years of legal exclusion, California should extend safety and health protections to domestic workers, most immediately by enacting and enforcing SB 1257.
Essential but Undervalued: Understanding the Home Care Workforce Shortage in the Hudson Valley
July 2020
In partnership with Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
Abstract: Home care is the fastest growing workforce in New York’s Hudson Valley Region, driven by rising demand as life expectancy increases and as baby boomers seek to “age in place.” These vital workers assist with activities of daily living and monitor the health of older adults and people with disabilities, allowing them to live at home instead of in care facilities and nursing homes. Yet low pay, inadequate benefits, and challenging job conditions create great hardship for these workers, leading them to quit the occupation at alarmingly high rates. This pattern exacerbates a mounting labor shortage that leaves many individuals and families without the care they need. Based on original surveys, interviews, and analysis of official workforce data, this report examines the scope and causes of the Hudson Valley’s home care crisis and identifies strategies to reverse it.
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