[Seniorresources] Older Workers in Direct Care

[Sally Camp]

Older Workers in Direct Care: A Labor Force Expansion Study, Melanie
Hwalek and Victoria Essenmacher, September 2005 (revised January 2006), 60
pp., plus appendices,
http://www.bjbc.org/content/docs/OperationABLEFinalReport013106.pdf.
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Atlantic
Philanthropies through a Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) grant to Operation
ABLE of Michigan. BJBC <http://www.bjbc.org> , a national program, aims
"to achieve changes in long-term care policy and practice that help reduce
high vacancy and turnover rates among direct care workers in long-term
care," according to an e-mail alert. The report's executive summary
<http://www.bjbc.org/content/docs/OperationABLESummary092705.pdf>  says
that attracting older workers to jobs in long-term care is critically
important because of labor shortages in the long-term care industry that
"are reaching crisis levels" and because "America is graying and many
older Americans are confronting serious economic problems." Among the
study's findings are that workers age fifty-five and older "are interested
in paraprofessional health careers"; that deterrents exist, both "real and
perceived," to recruiting and hiring such workers-these include a belief
by some employers that "health care costs would increase"; and that
nursing home and home health agency employers "have very positive
perceptions of mature workers." The summary suggests, for example, that
policymakers might look at "ways that the Senior Community Service
Employment Program and Workforce Investment Act adult programs can support
the preparation of mature workers for jobs" in long-term care. These
federal dollars "potentially" can be used by employers "to help offset"
training costs. The study was conducted between September 2003 and August
2005 by Operation ABLE in Michigan, its sister organizations in six other
states, and Social Program Evaluators and Consultants (SPEC), Inc. The
study's design included focus groups and telephone interviews.

Sally Camp
Senior Connections

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