Employment fields

Employment field: Personal and home care aides

40% increase in jobs 2002 - 2012

Significant Points

Excellent job opportunities are expected, due to rapid employment growth and high replacement needs. Almost a third of personal and home care aides work part time; most aides work with a number of different clients, each job lasting a few hours, days, or weeks.

Nature of work

Occupational characteristics include low skill requirements, low pay, and high emotional demands. Personal and home care aides help elderly, disabled, and ill persons live in their own homes or in residential care facilities instead of in a health facility. Most personal and home care aides work with elderly or disabled clients who need more extensive personal and home care than family or friends can provide. Some aides work with families in which a parent is incapacitated and small children need care. Others help discharged hospital patients who have relatively short-term needs. (Home health aidesÑwho provide health-related services, rather than mainly housekeeping and routine personal careÑare discussed in the statement on nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, elsewhere in the Handbook.)

Working Conditions

The personal and home care aide's daily routine may vary. Aides may go to the same home every day for months or even years. However, most aides work with a number of different clients, each job lasting a few hours, days, or weeks. Aides often visit four or five clients on the same day.

Surroundings differ from case to case. Some homes are neat and pleasant, whereas others are untidy or depressing. Some clients are pleasant and cooperative; others are angry, abusive, depressed, or otherwise difficult.

Employment

Personal and home care aides held about 608,000 jobs in 2002. The majority of jobs were in home healthcare services, individual and family services, private households, and residential mental retardation, mental health, and substance abuse facilities. Self-employed aides have no agency affiliation or supervision and accept clients, set fees, and arrange work schedules on their own.

Training

In some States, this occupation is open to individuals who have no formal training. On-the-job training is then generally provided. Other States may require formal training. The National Association for Home Care offers national certification for personal and home care aides. Certification is a voluntary demonstration that the individual has met industry standards.

Job Outlook

Excellent job opportunities are expected for this occupation, as rapid employment growth and high replacement needs produce a large number of job openings.

Employment of personal and home care aides is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2012. The number of elderly people, an age group characterized by mounting health problems and requiring some assistance, is projected to rise substantially. In addition to the elderly, however, patients in other age groups will increasingly rely on home care, a trend that reflects several developments, including efforts to contain costs by moving patients out of hospitals and nursing care facilities as quickly as possible, the realization that treatment can be more effective in familiar rather than clinical surroundings, and the development and improvement of medical technologies for in-home treatment.

Earnings

Median hourly earnings of personal and home care aides were $7.81 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $6.65 and $9.06 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $5.90, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $10.67 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of personal and home care aides in 2002 were as follows:

  • Residential mental retardation, mental health and substance abuse facilities $8.63
  • Vocational rehabilitation services 8.40
  • Community care facilities for the elderly 8.14
  • Individual and family services 8.12
  • Home health care services 6.72