波士頓指數新報告稱居家護理及托兒照顧員工存在系統性不公平

Care Work and the Racial Wealth Gap Care work has forever been critical to the health and basic functioning of our society. However, as we detailed in our September 2022 report, Care Work in Massachusetts: A Call for Racial and Economic Justice for a Neglected Sector, long histories of racial prejudice and gender discrimination have led to a systematic devaluation of these jobs. Poor working conditions and low wages for care workers have profound consequences not just on employee retention or the immediate economic security of care workers, but also the long-term wealth accumulation for care workers and their families. So, in partnership with SkillWorks, today we are releasing this new research brief, Care Work and the Racial Wealth Gap, to look more closely at how our undervaluation of care work makes it harder for these workers to accumulate assets over time and contributes to the racial wealth gap. On top of receiving low wages, for instance, care workers are also less likely to receive basic employment benefits like affordable health insurance or retirement plans. In Massachusetts, care workers are far less likely to receive employer-provided health insurance, leaving them more reliant on MassHealth (the state’s Medicaid program), as shown in the graph below.

Additionally, at the national level just 10.2 percent of child-care workers and 12.6 percent of home care workers have a pension or other retirement plan, compared to 35 percent of the total workforce. Having a strong retirement plan can serve both as a form of wealth itself—since retirement benefits have direct financial value—and as something that enables greater wealth accumulation during one’s working life—since retirement security frees people up to use income from work on other investments, including wealth-boosting ones like education or real estate. Read Care Work and the Racial Wealth Gap for more detail.