PHI Commends New York State’s Inclusion of the Fair Pay for Home Care Act in One-House State Budgets
NEW YORK — Today, PHI President Jodi M. Sturgeon commended the New York State Senate and Assembly for including the Fair Pay for Home Care Act in their final one-house budget proposals:
“PHI would like to thank the legislature for including Fair Pay for Home Care in the one-house state budgets. Fair Pay for Home Care will offer a commensurate wage that reflects the highly complex and challenging nature of direct care jobs. The new wage floor of $22.50, coupled with an increased reimbursement rate for providers, will enhance the state’s ability to address its workforce shortage and meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities throughout New York State.”
New York State is home to more than 469,000 home care workers, a population that grew by 96 percent between 2010 and 2020. In 2020, direct care workers in New York earned $14.86 an hour, and because of unreliable hours and the high cost of living, 43 percent of these workers lived in low-income households.
Because of poor job quality in direct care, many workers leave this field for other occupations, exacerbating the workforce shortage in direct care. PHI estimates that New York State’s long-term care sector will need to fill more than 1.1 million job openings in direct care between 2018 and 2028.
PHI is a national organization focused on strengthening the direct care workforce through research, advocacy, and workforce innovation. For more than 30 years, PHI has improved jobs for these workers in New York State and nationally, serving as the country’s leading expert on direct care workers.
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