By Michelle Andrews,
Kaiser Health News
When Margarette Nerette arrived in the United States from Haiti, she sought safety and a new start.
The former human rights activist feared for her life in the political turmoil following the military coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. A few years later, Nerette, then 29, left her two small children with her sister in Port-au-Prince, came to Miami on a three-month visa — and never went back.
In time, she was granted political asylum.
She eventually studied to become a nursing assistant, passed her certification exam and got a job in a nursing home. The work was hard and didn’t pay a lot, she said, but “as an immigrant, those are the jobs that are open to you.”
A few years later, her family joined her, but her children didn’t want to follow her career path. When she was a teenager, Nerette’s daughter, now 25, would ask, “Mom, why are you doing that?” Her daughter, Nerette said, considered the work underpaid and too physical.
After many years, Nerette, now 57, left nursing home work for a job with the Florida chapter of the labor union SEIU1199, which represents more than 25,000 health workers. As the local’s vice president for long-term care, she is keenly aware of staffing challenges that have plagued the industry for decades and will worsen as aging baby boomers stretch the limits of long-term care services.
The U.S. is facing a growing crisis of unfilled job openings and high staff turnover that puts the safety of older, frail residents at risk. In a tight labor market where job options are plentiful, long-term care jobs that are poorly paid and physically demanding are a tough sell. Experts say opening pathways for care workers to immigrate would help, but policymakers haven’t moved.
In the decade leading up to 2031, employment in health care support jobs is expected to expand by 1.3 million, a nearly 18% growth rate that outpaces that of every other major occupational…
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