The National Economic Council released a report on the recession’s impact on women, and how President Obama’s economic policies benefit them.
Since 90 percent of direct-care workers are female (pdf), the October 21 report, entitled Jobs and Economic Security for America’s Women (pdf), is pertinent to this workforce.
The report touts policies the Obama administration has already enacted, as well as proposals in the President’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget, which demonstrate “the many ways the administration is committed to making sure the government is working for all Americans, especially American women.”
Signed into Law
Some already existing policies highlighted in the report that affect low-wage direct-care workers, and the workforce as a whole, are:
Job Training
- The Affordable Care Act, passed in March 2010, supports training (pdf) of personal and home care aides.
- The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act establishes a new three-year program (pdf) for up to 10 community college and/or community-based training programs to provide infrastructure support for the development, evaluation, and demonstration of a competency-based curriculum to train qualified nursing assistants and home health aides.
- The Recovery Act included over $1 billion in workforce training programs at community colleges and other training providers, and the provision of education and training to dislocated workers.
Health Security for Women
The Affordable Care Act:
- Provides protections (pdf) from insurance company abuses by prohibiting lifetime caps on insurance plans, restricting annual caps on the dollar amount that insurers will spend on benefits, banning insurance plans from canceling coverage due to illness or a technical mistake on the application, and ending the practice of refusing coverage — or limiting benefits — due to a pre-existing condition (pdf), including pregnancy.
- Creates new competitive, transparent health insurance marketplaces in 2014 called “exchanges.” Additionally, insurance companies will be prohibited from gender rating, the practice of charging women more simply because they are female.
- Makes health insurance more affordable by expanding Medicaid, providing tax credits to middle income Americans to pay for coverage, requiring insurance companies to publicly disclose and justify unreasonable premium increases, and other measures.
- Promotes prevention by eliminating cost-sharing for preventive services such as breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings and bone density tests for women age 65 and older.
Obama’s Budget Proposal
The President’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget will be sent to Congress in early February 2011. Policies that are highlighted in the National Economic Council’s report which impact low-wage direct-care workers are:
Tax Incentives
The President proposes to make permanent the expansions of two key tax credits in the Recovery Act that are set to expire at the end of this year:
- Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for low- and moderate-income families
- Child Tax Credit, which will be increased by up to $1,368 for low-income families as a result of the Recovery Act
Child Care Costs
The President proposes to nearly double the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by increasing the credit rate from 20 to 35 percent of child care expenses for families making less than $85,000 a year.
Caregiver Initiative
- To support caregivers, the President’s budget proposal includes funding for the Administration on Aging’s Caregiver Initiative (pdf), which would support more than three million more hours of respite care for caregivers.
- To help older adults stay in their homes, the President proposes spending $50 million for programs that provide adult day care, in-home services such as home care aides, and transportation services.
Supporting Paid Sick Leave
The Healthy Families Act, which the administration supports, would allow people to earn up to seven days per year of paid sick time to use for themselves or a sick family member.
Direct Care Workers Compared to All Working Women
According to the report:
- Women represent 47 percent of the American workforce. (Ninety percent of the direct-care workforce is female.)
- The annual median income for working women was $26,030. (The annual median income for direct-care workers in 2008 was $17,000.)
- The wage gap affects all women and is larger among minority women. (Minorities comprise 51 percent of direct-care workers, but just 35 percent of the U.S. population.)
– by Deane Beebe
