The United States is in the midst of a national care crisis. With more than 10,000 people turning 65 every day, there is skyrocketing demand for affordable, quality, essential care that seniors and people with disabilities need to live independently at home. Yet due to exceptionally low wages and a lack of affordable benefits such as health care, paid sick time, and training opportunities, there is a shortage of affordable home care. As a result, working people are often forced to leave their jobs.
As part of his Build Back Better Plan, President Joe Biden has proposed a $400 billion investment in home- and community-based services (HCBS). This once-in-a-generation investment would boost economic growth by building a well-respected, well-protected, and well-paid union home care workforce that can answer the call for care, allowing working people to keep their jobs and pursue careers.
In June 2021, an initial analysis by experts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)—Dr. Lenore Palladino and Chirag Lala—modeled the economic impact of Biden’s proposal on a national level. The study found that the proposal would result in approximately 1 million new jobs, including both directly created home care jobs and indirect job creation as workers spend new wages in the economy.
Now, that analysis has been updated to show these estimates on a state-by-state level. The table below shows data on potential spending and the resulting direct and indirect job creation that a $400 billion investment in care could yield in every state.
In total, more than 1 million jobs would be created as a result of the investment; this includes more than 777,000 HCBS jobs, more than 60,000 indirect jobs or jobs that support the home care industry, and more than 177,000 jobs created from the additional spending in the economy from these new workers.
Table 1
Click here to download a spreadsheet of the data.