There is a great demand for workers to provide long-term care to older adults in the United States
between now and 2030, according to new report. In a study published in the latest issue of the
journal Health Affairs, University of California at San Francisco researchers found that at least
2.5 million more of this type of worker will be needed. “Even if 20 percent of elderly patients
move out of nursing homes into home health care, which would be huge change, the projected
increase in demand for long-term care workers would only drop from 79 percent to 74 percent,”
said lead author Dr. Joanne Spetz professor at the UCSF Phillip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy
Studies and associate director for research strategy at the UCSF Center for the Health
Professions. “Filling these jobs will be a big challenge under any scenario,” she told a USCF
publication.The authors recommend that policymakers and educators redouble efforts to recruit,
train and maintain long-term care workers, especially home health and personal care aides.
Meanwhile, a new report from employment website Career Building shows that the long-term
care sector is likely to see job growth over the next five years. Home health care services are
expected to grow from 1.3 million jobs in 2014 to 1.7 million in 2019. The dovetails with new
Labor Department numbers showing job gains in the health care arenaLink Icon, with 408,000
jobs added in health care over the past year.
