As the American population has aged over the past 10 years, the home-care workforce hasdoubled in size, with more people now receiving long-term assistance in their homes than in nursing institutions. Of the more than 2 million American home-care workers—including nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal-care aides—nearly a quarter are livingunder the poverty line and more than half are reliant on public assistance.
The demand for health-related services for older Americans and those with disabilities is predicted to grow. But it has historically been underpaid compared to other types of jobs in the field of health care. After adjusting for inflation, the median wage for home-care aides in the U.S. was $10.21 an hour in 2005. A decade later, that figure is even lower, at $10.11 an hour. And minimum-wage and overtime protections only recently went into effect for most home-care workers.
Vickie Miller is a home-care worker in Greenville, South Carolina, and a member of theFight for $15 movement, which aims to increase wages and benefits for workers. For The Atlantic’s ongoing series of interviews with American workers, I spoke with Miller about her relationship with her patients, how she deals with her job’s lack of benefits, and how America is coping with an aging population. The interview that follows has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
[For more of this story, written by Adrienne Green, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/bus...care-workers/503864/]
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