Raise the Floor: Quality Nursing Home Care Depends on Quality Jobsoutlines the case for improving jobs for the 650,000 nursing assistants employed by the nation’s 15,000-plus nursing homes.
These workers -- who are 91 percent female, 35 percent African American, and 20 percent foreign-born -- provide the majority of hands-on assistance that allows nursing home residents to live with dignity and as much independence as possible.
But nursing assistant jobs are characterized by poverty-level wages and poor benefits; erratic, often part-time schedules; limited support from supervisors; and little chance to advance beyond the entry level. Yearly wages average $19,000, barely enough for a family to meet their most basic needs.
In addition, PHI's research team estimates that more than 75 percent of nursing homes fail to meet the federal recommended staffing level for nursing assistants. This understaffing means that nursing assistants are constantly under stress and have time only to meet the residents' most basic personal care needs. This leads to dissatisfaction and burnout among staff and inadequate support for residents.
In the report, Maribel Rodriquez, a nursing assistant from Waterbury, Connecticut, describes her job as "hard physically, mentally and emotionally." The work takes a toll: nursing assistants are injured on the job three and half times as often as the average American worker.