According to a new study, workers who were displaced by the pandemic aren’t returning to caregiving careers. Among the findings:
- 7 million U.S. workers were displaced from occupations with similar requirements to direct care during the early months of the pandemic. About two-thirds of these (67%) were displaced from one of five occupational groups: food preparation and serving, administrative/office support, transportation, sales/retail, and production.
- 4% of direct care workers were displaced during the second quarter of 2020 and a small number of these have re-entered the workforce.
- 66% of displaced workers overall have re-entered the workforce.
- The two groups with the most workers who haven’t re-entered the workforce are the food service and administrative/office fields.
Overall, those workers who re-entered the workforce earned higher wages and were more likely to work full time than direct care workers.
“It’s clear from this study that the direct care job should be made more attractive to workers, and we all must find new ways to recruit specific populations into these jobs,” said Stephen McCall, a co-author of the report.
