When three-quarters of an industry’s employees leave in one year, it’s a sure sign that something is seriously wrong, and that’s exactly what happened among home care workers in Oregon in 2022. Home care workers are people who help seniors and people with disabilities continue to live in their own homes by helping them eat, bathe, and do other tasks.
It’s no mystery why home care workers have such high turnover: difficult work combined with low pay, poor benefits and harsh working conditions leads to this.
Home care workers, and direct care workers more broadly, are a critical part of the workforce and will only become more important as Oregon’s population ages.
So what can Oregon do to make direct care more attractive? Perhaps consider creating a workforce standards board.
Labor standards commissions are public bodies established by legislatures to help set minimum wages and working conditions across industries. These commissions are usually made up of workers, employers, civil servants, or members of the public.
Some commissions have the power to set rules within an industry, while others have the power to make recommendations to Congress. Either way, labor standards commissions have proven to be an effective way to improve wages and working conditions across an industry, avoiding the challenges that typically arise when trying to organize workplaces one by one.
The benefits of a labor standards board can be seen in Nevada. Like Oregon, Nevada’s home care workers are quitting in droves, with one in two quitting after just one year on the job. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, exposing inadequate training and other deficiencies in the home care industry.
So Nevada workers demanded the creation of a Workforce Standards Commission, and the state legislature agreed. The Nevada Home Care Workforce Commission’s recommendations then helped persuade lawmakers to raise the minimum wage for home care workers. In an industry where average wages had stagnated around $11 an hour, workers were able to push the minimum wage up to $16 an hour.
Workforce standards boards are not only good for workers and their families, they are also beneficial for businesses. By setting better wages and working conditions, standards boards can create a more stable, productive workforce and reduce turnover. Setting and raising workforce standards also helps responsible businesses. For example, there is no incentive for companies to falsely classify workers as independent contractors, a practice that can deceive honest employers by reducing labor costs.
Some labor activists may worry that by providing tangible benefits to workers, the LSC will weaken the urgency with which they need to unionize, but the evidence does not support this legitimate concern.
By requiring all companies in an industry to adhere to the same minimum wages and working conditions, standards boards reduce the opportunities for non-union companies to charge lower wages than unionized companies, thus reducing employers’ incentive to resist unionization.
The establishment of a labor standards committee also creates a need to inform workers about the committee’s activities and to help them participate in the process, including by testifying before the committee. This need is best met by labor unions. Thus, the establishment of the committee itself can be a catalyst for organizing.
Research has shown that countries that set standards at the industry level have higher union membership than those that only negotiate at the workplace level. This is true in countries like Sweden and the UK, which have higher union density than the US.
In 2023, the Oregon Legislature considered a bill to create a commission to address the long-term care industry’s high turnover, a situation that reflects the industry’s low wages and poor working conditions. The bill died during the session, but the idea remains very much alive.
A labor standards commission can create a win-win situation for all workers in the industry – a proven strategy the Legislature should adopt to improve economic security for Oregonians.
Cathy Lara is a policy analyst at the Oregon Public Policy Center. Her comments appear courtesy of our news partners. Oregon Capital Chronicle – may or may not reflect the views of The Corvallis Advocate or its management, staff, supporters or advertisers.
