Benbours

This past weekend the Washington Post magazine published an in-depth story about senior caregiving,
profiling a 63-year-old caregiver, Marilyn Daniel, who cares for
multiple senior clients as a home health aide.  The story mentions the
turnover rate of 40 to 60% for direct-care workers and the low pay.
Although the article says caregiving does not pay much more than
minimum wage, which is actually inaccurate, as the federal minimum wage
is $6.55 per hour and Marilyn Daniel is paid $12.40 per hour, nearly
double the federal minimum wage.

Caregiving actually does pay much more than the minimum wage in every state and Caregiverlist provides the minimum wage information in every state to help caregivers negotiate their pay
rate.  The highest minimum wage is in Washington state, at $8.55 per
hour, followed by Oregon state at $8.40 per hour and then
by California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, all paying $8.00 per
hour.  Most state minimum wages are somewhere between $6.55 and $7.25
per hour.

As is often noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the
occupation of senior home care aides as the second-fastest-growing
occupation in the U.S.A. with projections for a more than 50 percent
increase in caregivers during the next decade.

Payroll taxes are typically another 25% of a caregiver's pay (Social
Security, Unemployment, Worker's Compensation Insurance), although a
caregiver does not see this money as take-home pay, but rather as
payments direct to these benefits.

How much do you think caregivers should be paid?  Should there be
set increases according to advanced training completed and skills tests?

If you are a care aide looking for a job or if your looking to hire a care aide, check out http://careaides.com  - the website is dedciated to connecting care aides looking for work with people looking to hire a care aide, caregivers or health care workers.

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