Abstract
Using the 2021 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) dataset, we calculate the ratio of direct care workers relative to the population of older adults (ages 65+) across rural and urban areas in the US. We find that there are, on average, 32.9 home health aides per 1000 older adults (age 65+) in rural areas and 50.4 home health aides per 1000 older adults in urban areas. There are, on average, 20.9 nursing assistants per 1000 older adults in rural areas and 25.3 nursing assistants per 1000 older adults in urban areas. There is substantial regional variation. Greater investment needs to be made in improving wages and job quality for direct care workers to attract workers to these critical occupations, especially in rural areas where the need for direct care is greater.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1800-1808 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Applied Gerontology |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Support for this study was provided by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, Cooperative Agreement U1CRH03717-13-00. The information, conclusions, and opinions expressed are those of the authors, and no endorsement by FORHP, HRSA, or HHS is intended or should be inferred. Additional support was provided by the National Institute on Aging (Grant No. P30AG066613 to Phyllis Moen).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
Keywords
- home and community based care and services
- long-term services & supports
- nursing homes
- policy
- population aging
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.