Elderly Paying the Price for America’s Home Care Workers Leaving

Newsweek · Claudia Tanner, Eileen Falkenberg-Hull · 2026-11-04 10:00 UTC

Low wages, limited benefits and demanding working conditions may be contributing to high turnover among home care aides.

Low wages, limited benefits and demanding working conditions may be contributing to high turnover among home care aides, new research suggests, worsening staffing shortages that leave older Americans struggling without critical support in their own homes.

A recent Brookings Institution analysis found that fewer than half of direct care workers remained in long-term care roles the following year. Home care workers saw greater movement into and out of employment (16 to 17 percent annually) than residential care workers (11 to 12 percent).

With 7.3 million Americans receiving care at home or in their communities, demand is set to grow as the population aged 65 and older rises from 59.7 million in 2024 to a projected 72.5 million by 2034.

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