Occupational Transitions among Direct Care Workers in the United States

Abstract The high turnover and low supply of direct care workers have led to worker shortages, and in some cases, an inability to provide needed care for patients across healthcare settings. This was exacerbated during COVID-19. Using the longitudinal panel in the Current Population Survey (CPS), we found that 38 percent of direct care workers transitioned to another occupation at some point during the survey period. The rate of workers making an occupational transition per month in the pre-pandemic period (January 2019–March 2020) was around 13 percent, and increased to around 16 percent in the acute pandemic period (April 2020–April 2021) and the pandemic recovery period (May 2021–April 2022). Workers will continue to transition away from direct care occupations as long as wages and job quality continue to lag behind other occupations and industries.