The pandemic has made clear how essential caregiving is to people’s lives and to the economy. Yet the people who do this work are often paid low wages and denied basic protections.
The U.S. Department of Labor is aiming to address some of these concerns for home-based health care workers with the launch of a new initiative to increase outreach, education and enforcement around care workers’ rights, like minimum wage and overtime.
There are about 2.3 million home-based personal and health care workers assisting seniors and people with disabilities in the U.S. The workforce is almost 90% women, nearly two-thirds women of color, and one-third are immigrants. They make an average of $13 an hour, according to Lul Tesfai, senior policy adviser with New America.
“Nearly half of all home care workers live in a low-income household, and 1 of 6 workers lives below the federal poverty line,” she said.
The workers can be hired through state-run registries, private agencies or often just informal networks, said Los Angeles-based employment attorney Emil Davtyan.
“It’s just commonplace for workers to get abused because they get paid by cash a lot of times,” he said.
Like most domestic workers, home care aides had historically been excluded from federal job protections, like overtime pay, under the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, the Barack Obama administration moved to include them in 2015.
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