Health Care Blog

Providing Protections for In-Home Care Workers

Ed. note: This is cross-posted from Work in Progress, the Official Blog of the Department of Labor

In-home care service is a high growth industry, and it’s projected to grow by 50 percent between 2008 and 2018. In-home caregivers are an essential component of the health care system and will only become more important, as an increased number of patients turn to them for more affordable assistance with medical care as well as everyday tasks and household chores.

Many homecare providers earn less than the minimum wage and no overtime for these vital services. In 2007, then-Senator Obama spent a day with professional homecare worker Pauline Beck, assisting with her daily tasks and observing firsthand the unique challenges of in-home care (watch the video). He was impressed by Pauline’s dedication, and determined to assist her and others in her profession.

Today, Pauline joined me and President Obama as he announced a proposal from the U.S. Department of Labor to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act rules that would ensure fair pay for approximately 1.8 million workers who provide in-home care services for the elderly and infirm. This new rule would ensure that these hardworking professionals who provide valuable services to American families would receive the protections of minimum wage and overtime pay that nearly every employee in the United States already receives under the FLSA.

Many of these workers are the primary breadwinners for their families. Of the roughly 2 million workers who will be affected by this rule, more than 92 percent are women, nearly 50 percent are minorities, and nearly 40 percent rely on public benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, home health care aides earn about $21,000 a year and many lack health insurance. That is unacceptable.

The proposed regulation would also ensure that employers who have been treating these workers fairly are no longer at a competitive disadvantage. Leveling the playing field for both workers and employers is a fundamental principle of the FLSA.

Dynamic Dialogue and Shared Experience at Miami Summit

Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the Department of Education.

More than 200 Latino leaders convened earlier this month in Miami for the White House’s Hispanic Community Action Summit at Miami-Dade College (MDC), a fitting venue for the forum as the nation’s largest community college and one renowned for graduating the largest numbers of both Latino and minority youths.

Eduardo Padrón, MDC president and chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, welcomed business and civic leaders, administrators, educators and students to the daylong session. Padron emphasized the link between America’s economic progress and that of Hispanics, and that, as the fastest-growing community in the U.S., Hispanics must be better prepared to succeed both academically and economically if America is to compete globally.

Jose Rico, the new Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and Julie Rodriguez, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, provided a concise overview of the status of employment, housing, immigration, education, and health care. These presentations provided an excellent foundation for the roundtable discussions that ensued throughout the day.