GOOD JOBS MEASURES
Job Quality Measures for Building Equity and Infrastructure for Good Direct Care Jobs
OVERVIEW
A vast body of respected work on job quality measures exists, however, none yet are worker-informed, equity-centered and specifically designed for the unique challenges of the caregiving sector, which is one of the most occupationally segregated and lowest compensated industries in the country.
To that end, The Center for Equity created the following Good Jobs Measures derived from existing, recognized job quality measures and principles (laid out in the AirTable at the bottom of this webpage in the “Conventional Job Quality Measure” column), and filtered through our worker-centered, equity-oriented framework. Our framework and the specific workplace challenges covered by these measures were informed by a “Black Women Best” framework and through the participatory qualitative research we conducted in January 2022 in partnership with caregivers active in SEIU Local 2015 who identify as Black women. The result is a set of worker-informed job quality metrics tailored to the workplace challenges endemic to home care and nursing homes affecting the majority BIPOC and immigrant women caregiving workforce.
This set of pre-researched job quality measures intends to help equip advocates with a worker-centered job quality roadmap. We hope that stakeholders and use the measures and adapt them to their needs in guiding federal, state and local policymakers to maximize the impact of public funding, ensure public dollars are spent on good quality, family-sustaining jobs. Centering equity and worker voice in long-term care is a necessary and long-overdue practice, and we hope to support states, employers and other stakeholders in course-correcting on the racist, sexist legacy of care work in America, beginning with how care job quality is measured.
The Good Jobs Measures are organized in seven main job quality categories, each with sub-categories:
FULL SET OF MEASURES
Reference the full set of Good Jobs Measures below, and click “Download CSV” at the bottom of the AirTable or “View Larger Version,” in the bottom right hand corner of the table to increase viewing ability.
You may filter the AirTable of measures by job setting according to your needs. The job settings referenced are home care (either through private home care agencies, through independent providers, or both) and nursing facilities (where direct care and skilled nursing services are provided in a 24-hr residential setting). NOTE: Independent home care providers, also called IPs, may be providing care for a family member, friend, or other known relation, and each state has differing program rules and nuances for IPs, which may need to be accounted for when adapting the measures.
IDEAS FOR USING THE TOOLKIT
-
This toolkit is intended to help stakeholders by providing a pre-researched set of measures for anyone looking to set changes in motion to advance job quality in long-term care and build a more equitable caregiving system.
-
The measures in this toolkit can also be used to gauge what information for assessing job quality is currently available and use that as the starting point to work towards implementing “North Star” job standards (forthcoming; the standards will be organized around the same categories).
-
This tool can assist in your own reflection. How do these measures expand what you consider to be a “good” caregiving job and how we envision reforms that don’t unintentionally replicate systemic racism and other inequities embedded in the long-term care system?
