Health care workers in long-term care (LTC) settings face concerns related to financial security resulting from low wages, inconsistent hours, and a lack of benefits. These factors contribute to higher rates of LTC workers holding multiple jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new set of concerns stemming from these higher rates of multiple job holding. COVID-19 is an especially serious threat to the frail elderly, nosocomial infections are a driver of outbreaks in LTC settings, and the potential for LTC staff to be a primary route of virus transmission is high. We examined rates of multiple job holding and characteristics of multiple job holders in the LTC workforce.
Report
UCSF HWRC authors Tim Bates, MPP, Joanne Spetz, PhD, Laura Wagner, PhD RN have published their report Characteristics of Multiple Job Holders in Long-term Care. Multiple job holding is a difficult phenomenon to measure. It is plausible that patient care workers employed in LTC settings are more likely than average to engage in alternative work arrangements such as informal home health care services providers. Beyond the challenges posed by a viral pandemic, employment in LTC remains at a competitive disadvantage with other health care settings and many other sectors of employment generally.