Caregivers In Pennsylvania To Get Rare Pay Boost

SPOTLIGHT PA - Public funding for child care, home services for older adults, and disability support will increase under Pennsylvania’s latest budget, but caregivers and business leaders expect longstanding pay and staffing problems to persist without deeper state investments.

The budget, passed last month after a four-month delay, provides $25 million for early childhood education recruitment and retention. The sum is less than the $55 million proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, but child care advocates are still celebrating.

“My heart was happy. It was a relief,” said Brie Rice, an educator who oversees hiring and recruitment at JB’s Bright Beginnings, a child care center in Westmoreland County.

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Child care workers were disappointed when the previous budget passed without boosted funding, Spotlight PA reported. The new money comes after several years of concentrated lobbying from the industry, which sees its staffing challenges as existential: low wages lead to high turnover, which can cause facility closures and long waits for child care.

Alongside the new money for early childhood workers, this year’s budget also allocates $21 million to direct care. These caregivers provide daily, on-site assistance to older adults and people with disabilities — support that’s critical for keeping them out of nursing homes and hospitals.

The home care industry also struggles with recruitment and retention, issues likely to remain despite the new funding. The $21 million applies only to workers paid through a state waiver — a group representative of just 6% of direct caregivers in Pennsylvania.

That means many vulnerable Pennsylvanians who desperately need these services won’t receive them, said Mia Haney, CEO of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association.

“Our legislature knows what's going on. This administration knows what's going on,” she said. “We have a number of people who are choosing to look the other way, and we simply cannot continue down this road. It’s not safe.”

The home care industry hasn’t lobbied as successfully as child care providers. Although organized labor and business groups agree the workforce needs more state support, their visions of what that should look like differ.

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