Allison Lee, national campaign manager for the PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign, recently testified before the Maine Health and Human Services Committee in support of LD1364 (rtf).

LD1364 is a bill that would standardize the wage rate for all personal assistance workers at a minimum of $12 per hour. Advocates are encouraging the state to use federal stimulus monies to fund the initiative.

Lee’s testimony:

Testimony of Allison Lee,
National Campaign Manager
Health Care for Health Care Workers
PHI

Prepared for the Maine Health and Human Services Committee
April 28, 2009

Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony in support of LD 1364 – An Act To Stimulate the Economy by Expanding Opportunities for Personal Assistance Workers. PHI is a national non-profit that works to improve the quality of eldercare and disability services through improving the jobs of the direct-care workforce. For the past two years, I have been working with the Maine Direct-Care Coalition on a campaign to secure affordable, quality health care benefits for direct-care workers in the state.

Providing decent paying jobs with benefits is the key to providing quality care for Maine’s most vulnerable citizens. In 2006, according to the Maine Department of Labor, there were 23,182 direct-care workers employed in the state. However, that number underestimates the total number of workers as it does not count many workers who are employed directly by a consumer.

PHI analysis of the Maine occupational projections predicts that positions for personal assistance workers are expected to increase by 45% over the decade ending in 2016. These jobs make the list of the top ten fastest-growing jobs in the Maine economy and also the list of the top ten occupations expected to produce the largest number of annual openings. Yet, indicators show that the workforce is shrinking. In order to meet the growing demand for services, direct-care worker jobs must pay a decent wage to attract new entrants into the workforce.

While real wages for these workers have improved by roughly 4 percent over last decade, they are still under $9/hour. In addition, 40 percent of direct-care workers nationwide live in households that rely on one or more public benefits, such as Medicaid or food stamps, reflecting the heavy public subsidies required to compensate for the low wages and inadequate benefits received by most of these workers.

This predicted occupational growth presents an economic opportunity for the state of Maine. Direct-care worker jobs are the jobs of the future—they can’t be outsourced; they are recession‐proof and they can be powerful economic drivers improving the lives of many low‐income families and spurring community revitalization.

Maine can realize additional economic and social benefits by investing in direct-care jobs—higher tax revenues, reduced reliance on public benefits by direct-care workers, more efficient use of Medicaid and Medicare funds due to lower turnover costs, better retention of workers, and improved quality of care for aging and disabled populations.

LD 1364 is an important investment in a critical workforce. With the increased federal match that will be coming to the state, Maine would be wise to leverage state dollars to make a great impact on a vital economic engine – the direct-care workforce.