The Fiscal Policy Institute released a recent workforce report that found an increasing shortage of home care workers in New York.
MONICA KLEIN; press@fiscalpolicy.org, (917) 565-0715
Klein is a cofounder of Seneca Strategies, a political consulting firm.
The report found that although demand for home care workers has increased in recent years, “that increasing demand has not been met with sufficient growth… wages for home care workers have been largely stagnant over the past 10-20 years.” Further, the “market for healthcare workers is distorted by unresponsive Medicaid reimbursement rates,” said Fiscal Policy Institute executive director Nathan Gusdorf.
Other key findings:
- Over 4.6 million New Yorkers will be over age 65 by 2035––an increase of 29 percent in the next decade.
- Nearly 1 million New Yorkers will require home care by 2035.
- Without an increase in wages, the home care worker shortage will hit 1.47 million by 2035.
- Home care workers make approximately 40 percent less than workers in nursing care facilities.