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 2,446,801 (12.9%) of New York's 18,967,457 citizens were aged 65 or older, a 3.6% increase since 1990. The US Census estimates that by 2030 New York's elder population will increase by 60% to almost 4 million. By that year the traditional caregiving workforce (women aged 25 to 44) will decrease by 13.5%.

New York has a high rate of disability (20.6%) compared to the rest of 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 269,640
nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal care/home care aides worked in New York earning an average of $10.38 per hour. These numbers do not include many direct-care workers who are self-employed.

Nationally, nursing assistants make up the majority (56%) of the direct-care workforce counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York is unique in that the majority of workers work in home- and community-based settings as home health aides (40%) and personal/home care aides (25%).

It is anticipated that the state's already high rates of direct-care worker vacancies and turnover (30% to 40% according to a 2001 survey conducted by the New York Association of Homes & services for the Aging) will get worse as the population continues to age, and the 'care gap' between those needing care and those available to care for them continue to widen.



Sources:

1) The 65 years and over population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief
2) New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging (NYAHSA) 2001, Desperate times: Labor shortages in New York's continuing care system.