Kim Jeounghee
School of Social Work, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ USA.
J Labor Res. 2020;41(4):403-420. doi: 10.1007/s12122-020-09312-5. Epub 2020 Dec 15.
Occupational training and credentialing requirements for direct care workers were in place for consumers' health and safety, but their effects on job qualities and labor shortages in the direct care industry have been controversial. Using a nationally representative sample of psychiatric, nursing, and home health aides, a series of Average Treatment Effect models were analyzed to examine the effects of occupational credentials on various measures of job qualities. The findings revealed that credential-holding was related to higher annual earnings and increased probability of working full-time, year-round, and having access to employer-provided health insurance and retirement savings plans. The positive effects, however, were modest in size and suggested that, given the current wage and benefit levels for direct care workers, training and credential requirements cannot be the key to resolving job quality and labor shortage issues in the direct care industry. Implications of these findings and alternative ways to address the issues were discussed.
为保障消费者的健康与安全，对直接护理工作者制定了职业培训和资质要求，但其对直接护理行业工作质量和劳动力短缺的影响一直存在争议。利用全国代表性的精神科、护理和家庭健康护理助理样本，分析了一系列平均治疗效果模型，以检验职业资质对各种工作质量衡量指标的影响。研究结果显示，持有资质证书与更高的年收入、全年全职工作的可能性增加以及获得雇主提供的健康保险和退休储蓄计划有关。然而，这些积极影响的规模不大，这表明，鉴于目前直接护理工作者的工资和福利水平，培训和资质要求并非解决直接护理行业工作质量和劳动力短缺问题的关键。讨论了这些研究结果的意义以及解决这些问题的其他方法。
