Background

State Statistics (see below for key to abbreviations)

PC/HC Aide = Personal Care/Home Care Aide HHA = Home Health Aide CNA = Certified Nursing Assistant -- These charts include numbers for the BLS occupational group "nursing aides, orderlies and attendants." Avg DCW = Average direct-care worker wages -- calculated as a weighted median United States and state abbreviations are used (ex: VT = Vermont)

In 2000 579,798 (13%) of Alabama's 4,447,100 citizens were aged 65 and over, a 10.9% increase since 1990. The U.S. Census estimates that by 2030 Alabama's elder population will increase by 79.2%. By that year the traditional caregiving workforce (women aged 25 to 44) will decrease by 12.7%.

Alabama has one of the highest rates of disability (23.2%) in the nation; the national average is 19.3% for the population of people 5 and older.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2004 31,950 nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal care/home care aides worked in Alabama earning an average of $7.94 an hour. These numbers do not include many direct-care workers who are self-employed.

According to a survey by the American Healthcare Association (AHCA) in 2002 the statewide vacancy rate for Alabama CNAs was 8.1% and the turnover rate was 80.6%. It is anticipated that the state's already high rates of direct-care worker vacancies and turnover will get worse as the population continues to age, and the 'care gap' between those needing care and those available to care for them continues to widen.

Sources:

1) The 65 years and over population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief
2)American Health Care Association, 2003 Results of the 2002 AHCA survey of nursing staff vacancy and turnover in nursing homes