Mar. 20, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Mashburn, 202-508-9492
Linda Barbarotta, 202-508-9209

Studies Identify New Potential Home Care Pool and Opportunities for Retention

ANAHEIM, Calif – Two new studies find that individuals who have worked as family caregivers could provide a potential labor pool for long-term care providers.

Connecticut College and the University of California, Los Angeles surveyed California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) to find out why these independent home care workers, who provided critical care to hundreds of thousands of family members, friends or others across California, enter and stay in these jobs. The IHSS program allows family members, friends and others to become paid caregivers to those in need.

“Learning what will keep this potential pool of workers on the job is critical information for the future,” said Robyn Stone, DrPH, program director of Better Jobs Better Care, executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services and senior vice president for research at AAHSA. “By paying decent wages, and by providing health benefits and information about future job opportunities, these workers provide a real solution to the shortage of home care workers. This is especially crucial since the majority of people who need care want to receive it in their homes.”

The studies are produced by Better Jobs Better Care, a $15.5 million research and demonstration program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Retention of Related Caregivers Can Expand Labor Force

A research team from UCLA, headed by Ted Benjamin, surveyed a random selection of IHSS workers who at one time were paid caregivers to families and friends to determine why some remained in the program and others did not and whether those who had left would have any interest in returning to home care work.

Key study findings include the following:

• A substantial proportion of program participants said they would be willing to provide care again. As expected, a high percentage of workers that stayed in caregiving were more likely to say they would care again. However, the proportions of those that left caregiving who were willing to care again was much larger than expected.
• Former family member caregivers could add significantly to the pool of caregivers. With about 44,000 family caregivers in IHSS who stop caregiving in one year, about 4,400 will continue working elsewhere as caregivers. Among those who leave, about 23,000 would definitely or probably care again for a friend or family member, while about 17,000 would definitely or probably care again for a strange.

“It’s clear from the study that paying family members can expand the homecare workforce. States and counties with programs like California’s, that hire family and friends to provide home care, can help build this workforce by providing timely information about other home care job opportunities to former family caregivers,” said Benjamin.

Wages, Benefits and Flexibility Matter

Candace Howes, PhD and her Connecticut College research team explored the incentives that would help encourage IHSS workers to remain in caregiving.

The research team surveyed 2,200 IHSS workers, randomly drawn form eight counties in California during the summers of 2004 and 2005. The workers were selected to represent high and low wage-earners in both rural and urban areas.

Key study findings include the following:

• When wages are competitive and benefits are provided, consumers are more likely to find someone who wants to work in this kind of job and can afford to stay in it. In 1997, when home care workers were paid close to minimum wage in San Francisco, the turnover rate was 61 percent. When wages rose to $10/hr and health and dental insurance became available to providers who worked 35 hours a month, the turnover rate dropped dramatically – to 26 percent in 2002.
• Most of these workers are low-income and work multiple jobs so flexibility and wages matter. Half of these workers earned less than $1,000/month from all income sources; half reported household incomes of less than $2000/month. Thirty-seven percent worked at another job, in addition to their IHSS job. Overall, 42 percent report that they took the job and stayed with it because they were looking for a flexible job.

"Paying direct care workers a decent compensation makes a difference for consumers and states. As seen in California, consumer-directed home care can be provided at half the cost of nursing home care, even if the workers are paid decent wages and benefits," said Howes.

For more information about these research studies or about Better Jobs Better Care, please go to www.bjbc.org.


Better Jobs Better Care is a four-year $15.5 million research and demonstration program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies. Its goal is to achieve changes in long-term care policy and practice that help reduce high vacancy and turnover rates among direct care staff across the spectrum of long-term care settings and contribute to improved workforce quality. Technical assistance is provided in partnership with the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI).

Better Jobs Better Care is directed and managed by the Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS), American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA). For more information about Better Jobs Better Care, contact Robyn Stone at 202-508-1206, rstone@aahsa.org or visit www.bjbc.org.