Personal and home care aides, caretaker and caregiver earnings

Home Care & Eldercare Earnings

Employment

Personal and home care aides held about 701,000 jobs in 2004. The majority of jobs were in home health care services; individual and family services; residential care facilities; and private households. Self-employed aides have no agency affiliation or supervision and accept clients, set fees, and arrange work schedules on their own.

Earnings

Median hourly earnings of personal and home care aides were $8.12 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $6.83 and $9.70 an hour.

The lowest 10 percent earned less than $5.93, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $10.87 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of personal and home care aides in May 2004 were as follows:

Residential mental retardation, mental health and substance abuse facilities -- $9.09
Vocational rehabilitation services -- $8.76
Community care facilities for the elderly -- $8.49
Individual and family services -- $8.48
Home health care services -- $6.99

Most employers give slight pay increases with experience and added responsibility. Aides usually are paid only for the time they work in the home, not for travel time between jobs. Employers often hire on-call hourly workers and provide no benefits.

Source:

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Personal and Home Care Aides, on the internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos173.htm (visited November 12, 2006).

Eldercare Profession

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Home Care & Eldercare Earnings

Employment

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