labor lawAdivision of labor law center

As the population ages, healthcare is the single fastest-growing field in the U.S. Eight of the 20 fastest-growing jobs are in the healthcare industry. About 13.1 million workers are currently employed in the field…and that number is only expected to grow. In addition, the healthcare industry currently provides jobs for about half a million self-employed individuals.

About 19% of the new jobs created by 2014 will be in the healthcare field, according to experts at the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s why federal grants for workers in Alaska, Kansas, Mississippi, New York, Michigan and Connecticut are good news.

“The healthcare industry is predicted to grow at a rate of 27% between 2002 and 2012, adding 3.5 million new jobs,” according to Emily Stover DeRocco, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training. 

Many of the jobs in this fast-growing field are for technicians and healthcare providers with just 1 to 2 years of training after high school. It’s true that the job market for highly-trained doctors and nurses is increasing rapidly…but so are healthcare jobs that require much less training.

As baby boomers age, there will be increased demand in this field, especially for long-term care for seniors and the chronically ill.

“Our aging population is placing great demands on our health care system. Long-term care professionals, in particular, are in great need and these grants will help our nation’s workers acquire the skills to fill this need and develop promising careers in this field,” said Secretary Elaine Chao said in announcing these grants.

These highly-coveted grants were awarded to just 6 of the 77 organizations that competed. Each award is for about $500,000, to train workers for careers in long-term care.

Training is a boon for American workers. While unemployment hovers around 5% nationwide, highly-trained workers have unemployment rates of just 1.9% throughout the country as a whole.

That’s why Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao recently announced an award of $6 million to a handful of organizations that prepare workers for careers in long-term care.

The awards support a number of activities at different sites. These include:

• Developing a certified nursing assistant (CNA) track at a popular college
• Delivering on-the-job training in the healthcare field
• Preparing community college students to advance “up the nursing career ladder”
• Implementing both credential and certification programs in the industry
• Implementing a direct care worker career pathway

According to sources at the U.S. Department of Labor, these programs and others will provide talent development solutions that are industry-driven. Even more important, the programs will address the challenges looming in the long-term care sector, where qualified employees are increasingly in demand, and hard to find.

These grants totaling almost $3 million will help develop regional efforts to create pools of qualified workers that the long-term care industry can draw upon.

“America’s aging population is creating demand for the professional development of highly skilled long-term care providers,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco. “Today’s awards will allow grantees to combine the strengths of public and private sector partners implementing education programs, and will create a pipeline of workers to meet the needs of the long-term care industry.”

Among the elite programs capturing awards in this program are the prestigious program at the Capital Workforce Partners of North Central Connecticut. Another coveted grant went to the Mississippi Hospital Association Health Research & Educational Foundation. The University of Alaska in Anchorage was also the recipient of a grant.

Additional grants were awarded to the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments. The New England states received a grant in the form of an award to the Workforce Investment Boards of Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties in New York. The final award went to Neosho Community College in Eastern Kansas.

All of these organizations will be increasing promising talent development practices and tools that are already in place to train healthcare workers for the future.

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1. Posted by: Kay

   I found this article particularly interesting while searching for Mississippi wage laws that might apply to a “promotion” and subsequent pay raise at a local nursing home. My daughter was hired two years ago as a CNA and transferred to Activities Assisstant after 1 1/2 years. Her two year anniversary was in June 09 and was “promoted” to Admissions Clerk in July. Her pay for the last 2 years has been $8.00 even though she was told that she would get a raise at 1 year and again at 2 years…never received the raises. When hired as Admissions Clerk, they offered her $12.00. The person she replaced hired in at $12.00 and was promoted to $14.00 after her 90 day probation; however, she did have a 4-year degree. My daughter has 3 years of college in related areas but no degree. Today, the administrator called her into his office and said that corporate never agreed to her pay scale, so they are cutting her back to $10.00/hr. I’m furious that they are doing this, and I’m not sure if it is even legal after paying her $12.00 for almost 2 months now. Can they do this to her? After all, she accepted the job with a pay rate of $12.00–not $10.00/hr. The administrator wouldn’t give her an answer as to why she is getting cut. She has never had any repremands and has been an outstanding employee with a clean work record. I know there are two sides of every story, but she has worked so hard to master her new position, and he actually said she was doing a good job. I’ve encouraged her to go back to him for an answer and then request to see her personnel record to make sure that nothing has been documented without her signing it. I would also ask to see the payroll documentation reflecting the change and how they justified it. I believe it is her right to demand an answer…I still think it must be illegal to take $2.00/hr away from a young woman who has worked so hard to make a place in the healthcare industry. I’m simply shocked that there has been so much grant money to help train our young people only to have them later get treated this way by corporations…simply appauling! I would appreciate any info on the proper channels for her to go through to get help. I’m not confident that she will get any answers from her employer.

2. Posted by: Amelia

   Hi Kay! We wish we could offer more help for this situation, but we cannot. What the employer is doing is 100% lawful. They gave your daughter a raise from $8.00 per hour to $10.00 per hour. Unfortunately, through an internal miscommunication, your daughter was paid $12 per hour for two months. The employer has now corrected that error.
   Any employer can reduce any workers wages at any time, as long as the employee is informed in advance. In Mississippi, as in most states, as long as the employee knows about the wage reduction one day in advance, that is sufficient. (A few states require more notice.) Many, many employers are reducing employees’ wages across the board during this recession, so the fact that your daughter is receiving any increase at all speaks very well of her performance and her employer.
   What the former employee was paid is irrelevant. Her qualifications were different, and frankly, the labor market was entirely different a year or two ago than it is now. Many people have found that the house that was worth $350,000 two years ago is now worth $300,000. By the same token, the job that was worth $12 per hour two years ago now pays $10 per hour.
   We admire your impulse to protect your offspring like a mama bear, but if she takes the steps you recommend she will be seen as a troublemaker, an unreasonable employee and possibly fired. It is not appropriate for an employee to “demand” to see their entire personnel file. The employer is not claiming that your daughter has done anything wrong. The administrator did give your daughter a reason why her wages are being cut — corporate never approved the higher wages. One reason that an employer would hire or promote an employee without a degree is because they can legitimately pay that employee less.
   If your daughter feels that she is being undercompensated, she should look for a higher-paying job when the economy picks up. She could also return to school to earn her degree. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

3. Posted by: Kay

   Thank you, Amelia, for the information and advice. I do feel like the mother bear protecting her cub but absolutely would not want to encourage her to take any steps that would deem her a troublemaker. However, I have worked as a human resource clerk in the past and was very, very careful of proper documentation for any change in the employee’s salary and/or position. She was fearful that HR may have falsified documents to justify her salary reduction.
   My advice to her now that I know it is perfectly legal is to keep a low profile, to work diligently, and to start looking for that higher-paying, less stressful job before they knock her back down to $8.00/hr! She wishes now that she had stayed in activities where she had fun connecting everyday with the precious elderly residents.
   She can now say along with the rest of us that she has experienced a hard lesson learned–life is not fair. Thanks again, Amelia, for responding. Kay

4. Posted by: Amelia

   Hi Kay! You are more than welcome! And we agree that your daughter can find a job that is a better use of her talents! ~ Amelia