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Title: Lifting Up Paid Care Work

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Primarily women of color and immigrants, home care aides, house cleaners, and nannies are the paid care workers who play an essential role in New York City’s dynamic economy. New Yorkers entrust these workers to care for their loved ones when they cannot. Care workers are there when children muster the courage to take their first steps; care workers feed parents who once prepared family dinners; and care workers make sure people who need assistance to leave their homes get fresh air and sunlight. Despite the vital importance of paid care workers to the daily functioning of the city and its economy, the working conditions of care workers often make them unable to care for their own loved ones the way they care for others’. Care workers are rarely paid a sustainable living wage and suffer from insecure and temporary employment. Their contributions are frequently unappreciated by the public, their employers, and even their clients. Hidden in private homes out of public view and working alone, care workers are especially vulnerable to long and emotionally trying days, compensation that pales in comparison to the worth of their work, and denial of the most basic workplace rights and protections. In an effort to better address care workers’ distinct needs, in February 2017, the City of New York opened a first-of-its-kind Paid Care Division within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). DCA’s Office of Labor Policy & Standards (OLPS) houses the Paid Care Division, the only governmental office in the United States charged with raising job standards in care industries. To meet this challenging but critical mandate, the Division works in partnership with paid care worker organizations, employers, and other stakeholders. The Division’s approach is interdisciplinary: it engages in policy development, outreach and education for workers and employers, intake and referral to outside resources for paid care workers, and original research. The Division also draws on DCA resources and enforcement authority, including its enforcement of NYC’s Paid Sick Leave Law (PSL), to meet care workers’ needs and elevate their important work. As the Division concludes its first year, this report provides an analysis of what it has learned, an overview of its accomplishments, and a roadmap for action it plans to take in the years to come. Specifically, the report elaborates on the close partnerships the Division has fostered with City agencies, academic institutions, and organizing and advocacy groups. These partnerships have culminated in the adoption of model standards for paid care jobs. The Division’s work also includes proactive investigations into possible violations of PSL at several dozen home care agencies, covering approximately 30,000 workers. Additionally, in collaboration with Professor Ruth Milkman of The City University of New York (CUNY), DCA is releasing the results of a year’s worth of focus group research through a companion publication, Making Paid Care Work Visible: Findings from Focus Groups with New York City Home Care Aides, Nannies, and House Cleaners. Making Paid Care Work Visible draws insights from discussions with 115 care workers about their work. The report also relays stakeholders’ recommendations for future City action on behalf of paid care workers and identifies the Division’s priority work areas going forward. In 2018, the Division will continue its outreach and education activities in partnership with groups organizing and serving paid care workers, assess the ways in which its legal services program might better respond to and address the unique enforcement challenges in care workplace settings, vigorously enforce PSL in care industries, and work with stakeholders to identify new policies the City could adopt to raise the prevailing standards in paid care jobs.

Url: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/workers/Lifting-up-Paid-Care-Work.pdf

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Authors: De Blasio, Bill; Salas, Lorelai

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

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