NYTimes Editorial: Quality Jobs Needed in Home Care

From PHI:

A New York Times editorial titled “Caring for the Caregivers”
makes the link between quality care and quality direct-care jobs —
calling for improved labor protections in an area that is “one of the
fastest growing” but “one of the lowest paid and most exploitable.”

The piece calls home health care “a 21st-century growth industry,”
pointing out that, at a time when record layoffs are being reported,
the health care sector continues to add jobs — with 32,000 positions
added in December 2008 alone.

Referring to federal labor laws that permit home care aides to be
exempted from overtime and minimum wage requirements, the editorial
says, “It is unconscionable that workers who are entrusted with the
care of some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens are themselves
unprotected by basic labor standards.”

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