Although the long-term care industry faced challenges prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the long-term care workforce has experienced considerable hurdles over the past three years. As the US elderly population increases, greater morbidity drives higher utilization of a variety of healthcare services. The continued growth in demand for long-term care — including skilled nursing, assisted living and nursing homes — has exacerbated workforce shortages. As recruitment and retention remain a top challenge for long-term care facilities, staffing firms have an opportunity to address some of these hurdles by better understanding the features of the industry, as highlighted below.

Here are some of the issues facing the long-term care industry:

• Gender inequality: The long-term care workforce has a high percentage of women due partly to their history as primary caregivers, providing informal care to a child, spouse or parent. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a large majority of residential long-term care workers are women, accounting for 80.9%, with the highest concentration among LPNs and RNs at 91.0% and 89.4%, respectively. Men in the long-term care industry make up a larger share of food services and maintenance at 34.3% and 33.7%, respectively.
• Wage disparities: Gender wage gaps have made little progress, with continued variances between men and women workers in the long-term care industry. The median hourly wage for men and women across the entire long-term care industry is $16.32 and $14.98, respectively. The median wage for higher-paying roles such as RNs is estimated at $30.28 per hour for men, compared with $28.25 for women. The difference in earnings is seen in both higher- and-lower paying positions, according to data from the US Census Bureau.
• Race and citizenship status: Workers in the long-term care industry disproportionately are immigrants and face discrimination based on their identity. According to the Economic Policy Institute, immigrant women account for 12.8% of the long-term care workforce compared to 7.2% of the overall workforce. Additionally, Black and Asian Pacific Islander workers in long-term care are slightly more likely to work multiple jobs than the overall workforce (6.6%) at 8.0% and 7.9%, respectively.  

Creating a stronger, more robust long-term care workforce requires addressing the above issues and promoting change. Staffing firms have partnered with their health system clients to fight this battle including attempts to increase wages, secure diverse talent pools, offer flexible scheduling, create efficiencies through automation and increase supply of staff, ultimately improving the quality of services to residents. For more insight into how staffing firms are partnering with long-term care facilities, see Staffing Industry Analysts’ “2023 Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living Overview” report.