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Better Life Lab: Caregiving in America — the Dignity Gap

Slate Daily Feed

Slate

News, Society & Culture, Business

3.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the future, robots may take over tasks such as doling out medications. But no machine can raise a child or truly care for a disabled, ill or aging loved one. And home care jobs are projected to be among the fastest-growing jobs in America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects care jobs will grow 33 percent by 2029. By some estimates, 70 percent of people over 65 soon will require long-term care. But care jobs are also, for the most part, poverty-wage jobs. They are low-paying, stressful, emotionally taxing, unpredictable and precarious. Half of all care workers in America earn so little that they qualify for public benefits. Nine out of 10 home health workers are women, 62 percent are people of color and one-third are immigrants. In what many scholars say was an overt act of white supremacy and patriarchy, care workers were excluded from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. They were denied the federal right to organize and collectively bargain, demand a minimum wage or overtime pay. What would the future of care work look like if they could? Guests Brittany Williams, home care worker living in Washington state, and a member of a union representing caregivers. Danielle Williams, Brittany’s mother, a home care worker in Arkansas. She earns about half of what Brittany does, and few benefits. Ai-Jen Poo, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and a MacArthur “Genius” award winner named among the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” by Fortune. Resources Working while Caring: A National Survey of Caregiver Stress in the U.S. Workforce, Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers Mother and Daughter do the same job. Why does one make $9 more an hour?, Brigid Schulte & Cassandra Robertson Professional Caregiving men find meaning and price in their work, but still face stigma, Brigid Schulte, Emily Hallgren, Roselyn Miller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Robots can already do a pretty good job

0:02.6

vacuuming a shag carpet.

0:05.6

They are vital to e-commerce warehouses.

0:08.6

And not so far in the future,

0:10.3

drones might even deliver carry out pizza

0:12.6

or prescription drug refills to your front door.

0:17.3

But there's some work no robot should ever do.

0:21.3

It's the most fundamental and valuable work

0:27.4

that makes everything else possible

0:29.4

in our economy and in our society.

0:32.2

And that work is care work.

0:36.4

I'm Bridget Cholte,

0:37.7

you're listening to Better Life Lab.

0:43.5

Homecare jobs are among the fastest-growing jobs in America.

0:47.5

The Bureau of Labor Statistics

0:49.1

projects that the number of these jobs

0:51.0

will grow 33% by the end of the decade.

0:54.3

That's four times faster than most other jobs.

0:58.7

As our population ages,

1:00.7

the US government expects more than two-thirds of seniors

1:03.9

will require long-term care

1:06.1

and yet the pay and benefits of these jobs

...

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