For many years, the leaders of the home-based personal care industry have referred to the “Silver Tsunami” of future demand. The future is here as the oldest of the 80 million US baby boomers reach their average life expectancy. Many if not most will outlive the averages and need home care to age in place independently with dignity, and grace.
Two thirds of US caregivers work part-time. Many disappeared during Covid for fear of infection. It certainly didn’t help that they were being paid by the federal government not to work. Now that the dark Covid clouds have dissipated and the employment disincentive money is gone, many caregivers are returning to work, just in time for the surge in demand among baby boomers. Clearly, there is a post Covid-era boom in home care job creation.
According to a December 4, 2023, Wall Street Journal article entitled “Smallest Employers Take the Lead on Hiring,” the labor market is tilting towards smaller employers as the labor market cools among large employers. As such, it could give home care providers a chance to catch up on hiring with less competition on pay and benefits and offer refuge for job seekers as the unemployment rate creeps higher. With wage growth easing at larger companies, caregiver recruiters are operating on a more level playing field.
All told, the return of the inactive caregiver is intersecting with unprecedented demand and unprecedented hiring of new caregivers boding well for exceptional ongoing growth in the recession proof and pandemic proof home care industry.
