John,

As we don our costumes and prepare to be spooked by all the ghosts and goblins who will show up to our doorsteps for candy and Halloween mischief, the scariest things won’t be the witches and warlocks, but the devastating cuts being made to the care economy―or as we’re calling it, the “scare economy.”

When we talk about the care economy, we’re talking about care infrastructure―high quality, accessible, and affordable child care; paid family and medical leave; home- and community-based services (HCBS) and support for older adults and people with disabilities; and the care workforce.

But when it comes to care infrastructure, the U.S. leaves millions of people behind. That’s because we’re not just talking about economic nuts and bolts: we’re talking about families struggling to cover essential care. Billions of dollars of pandemic-era aid recently expired, leaving advocates fearing this could lead to the loss of 70,000 child care centers, with 3.2 million kids losing care.¹ This will have a disproportionate impact on families in rural communities, families with low incomes, families headed by single parents, and BIPOC families. Advocates are calling for at least $16 billion a year in emergency funding to prevent this devastating loss of child care supply.

It is critical that we invest in the care infrastructure to address our child care crisis, improve home- and community-based care, and increase wages for care workers. Send a message to Congress, urging them to increase funding for the care economy today.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, large coverage gaps existed in home care for older adults and people with disabilities, with states limiting the number of individuals who can receive these critical services through Medicaid’s Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) program. This resulted in millions of people not receiving the care they needed and millions of care workers overworked and grossly underpaid.

At the same time, 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day and people over the age of 65 have a 70% chance of needing long-term care.³ There are currently 650,000 people with disabilities who are on waiting lists for Medicaid HCBS services, where the average wait time is 45 months.

Jobs in the care economy don’t pay a fair wage to the Black, Latina, Asian, and immigrant women who make up 90% of its workforce. Care workers have been excluded from worker protections for decades―they didn’t even have federal minimum wage protections until six years ago.

The median hourly wage for home care workers was $14.50 in 2022. That’s actually lower than it was in 2021 ($15.22), accounting for inflation. Their median annual income was only $20,599 in 2021 with 15% of home care workers living below the poverty line and 42% near poverty (below 200% of the poverty line).² Because their earnings are so low, more than half received some form of public assistance.

In the richest country in the world, we can afford to invest in our care economy, provide dignity to seniors and people with disabilities, keep people active in their communities, and ensure better pay and economic stability for some of our lowest-paid, but essential workers.

Join CHN and our national allies in writing to Congress and demanding crucial investments in our care economy to provide more care and improve conditions for care workers who are overworked and underpaid.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Child Care Cliff: 3.2 Million Children Likely to Lose Spots with End of Federal Funds
² Direct Care Worker Demand Continues to Rise, But Progress Stagnates
³ How Much Care Will You Need?