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)

The 65-plus population represent 13.1% of Wisconsin's total population (the national average is 12.4%). The U.S. Census estimates that by 2030 Wisconsin's elder population will increase by 86.8%. In the same period the traditional caregiving workforce (women aged 25 to 44) will decrease by 6.6%

Due to the increase in the elderly population, the need for health care workers will grow. Already, the health care industry is Wisconsin's largest employer, accounting for 10,000 job openings annually.

While Wisconsin's elderly population grows the number of young workers is expected to drop. By 2025, the state's 'traditional' caregiving population (women aged 25-44) is expected to shrink by over 6 percent. During this same period, the aging population is expected to grow by almost 70 percent.

High turnover and vacancy rates for direct-care workers are a national problem. In Wisconsin, the turnover rate for nursing assistants in all nursing homes was 67% in 2001. Among proprietary homes the rate was 97% for full-time nursing assistants and 95% for part-time nursing assistants. Estimates of annual turnover rates for home health and personal care agencies in Wisconsin range from 30 to 83 percent.


Sources:
1) Health Care Wisconsin: A report by the Governer's Health Care Workforce Shortage Committee, 2002
2) 'Wisconsin nursing homes and residents, DHFS, Bureau of Health Information, Division of Health Care finance, 2002