Problems in the U.S. care sectors risk holding back the economic recovery amid another month of disappointing job gains

According to the latest Employment Situation Summary (opens in a new tab) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 194,000 jobs in September—well below expectations (opens in a new tab) and substantially less than the average 806,000 job gained over the previous three months. As the delta variant of the coronavirus sent ripples through the labor market, the prime-age employment-to-population ratio, or the share of 25- to 54-year-olds who have a job, remained flat at 78 percent between mid-August and mid-September. While the overall unemployment rate fell from 5.2 percent to 4.8 percent, some of the reduction in joblessness was the consequence of workers leaving the labor force.

Today’s Jobs report continues to show that the recovery in employment remains uneven. Across the lines of race, ethnicity, and gender, employment is most depressed for women of color. In September 524,000 fewer Black women were employed than in February 2020, a decline of 5.2 percent. Latina women—who did not see any net increases in employment last month and face the second-deepest job losses—are experiencing a drop of 4.7  percent. (See Figure 1).

Figure 1

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The still chilling effect of the delta variant was evident in overall job growth. The education and health care industry, for example, shed 7,000 jobs and the “other services” industry that includes sectors such as personal care services shed 16,000 jobs. Even though in September the leisure and hospitality sector added 74,000 jobs—more than any other industry—these gains still fell short of the massive number of jobs added during the summer.

Another factor holding back stronger employment gains is the slow recovery in some parts of the paid care economy (opens in a new tab). This sector provides health, education, and social services to workers, families, and communities.

Indeed, last month nursing care facilities, residential mental health facilities, and community care centers for the elderly all saw their workforce shrink. These data reflect reports that care providers such as child care centers (opens in a new tab) and nursing homes (opens in a new tab) are struggling to hire and retain workers after millions of workers (opens in a new tab) in the health care and social assistance industry were laid off between March and April of last year during the depths of the coronavirus recession. While some care sectors such as home health services have recovered at roughly the same pace as the overall U.S. labor market, others are lagging behind. As of September employment at nursing care facilities and community care centers for the elderly remained 15 percent and 11 percent below February 2020 levels. (See Figure 2).

Figure 2

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One likely reason for the slow recovery in these care sectors is that the coronavirus pandemic made already challenging and often bad-quality jobs even more difficult. Compensated caregivers in general—among them home health aides, child care workers, and nursing home staff—tend to be poorly paid and are likely to experience precarious working conditions. In 2020, for example, the median wage for childcare workers was just $12.24 per hour (opens in a new tab) and for home health and personal care aides just $13.02 per hour (opens in a new tab).

In addition, these workers often do not have access to employer-provided benefits (opens in a new tab) and are often subject to particularly invasive (opens in a new tab) forms of worker surveillance. And as the pandemic hit early last year, many of the workers who were not laid off were highly exposed to the coronavirus at work and often received little support (opens in a new tab) from their employers in terms of provision of basic protective equipment such as masks. According to one analysis (opens in a new tab), nursing home workers held one of the deadliest jobs last year as they provided care in understaffed and underfunded facilities while also lacking access to paid sick leave and earning insufficient wages.

Because women in general and women of color in particular are overrepresented in care occupations (opens in a new tab), that care work is undervalued and thus is both a driver and a reflection of racial and gender economic inequality.