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Migrant care workers or migrants working in long-term care?
— A review of Australian experience | | Author(s) | Anna L Howe |
| Journal title | Journal of Aging & Social Policy, vol 21, no 4, October-December 2009 |
| Publisher | Routledge, October-December 2009 |
| Pages | pp 374-392 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Immigrants ; Care home staff ; Care support workers ; Employment ; Literature reviews ; Australia. |
| Annotation | Discussion of the role of migrant care workers in long-term care (LTC) has gained increasing attention in the United States and other developed countries in recent years. The subject is of particular relevance to Australia, where 24% of the total population is overseas-born, two-thirds of them coming from countries where English is not the primary language. Issues of interest arise regarding meeting LTC workforce demands in general and responding to the particular cultural and linguistic needs of postwar immigrants who are now reaching old age in increasing numbers. This review begins with an account of the overseas-born components of the aged care workforce. It then examines this representation with reference to the four factors identified as shaping international flows of care workers in the comparative study carried out for the AARP Public Policy Institute in 2005: migration policies, LTC financing arrangements, worker recruitment and training, and credentialing. The ways in which these factors play out in Australia mean that while overseas-born workers are over-represented in the LTC workforce, migrant care workers are not identifiable as a marginalised group experiencing disadvantage in employment conditions, nor do they offer a solution to workforce shortages. The Australian experience differs from those of other countries in many respects, but it does show that the experience of migrant care workers is not unique to LTC, and points to the need to extend the search for solutions to workforce shortages and improving conditions of all care workers well beyond LTC systems to wider policy settings. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-100929006 A |
| Classmark | TJ: QRM: QRS: WJ: 64A: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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