It’s Crazy Time at the US DOL – Pay Home Health Care Workers Less Than $7.25/hr
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 23, 2025 – There is crazy and there is cruel, and both themes are running rampant at the U.S. Department of Labor these days. For cruelty, the Labor Department has just proposed eliminating some safety standards at factories and mines, as well as to limit the government’s ability to penalize employers if workers are injured or killed in certain hazardous jobs. In the crazy and cruel department, the DOL wants to allow the estimated 3.7 million workers employed by home care agencies to be paid below the federal minimum wage — currently $7.25 per hour. It would also make them ineligible for overtime pay if they aren’t covered by corresponding state laws.
Worker Safety
Obviously labor unions and other groups are upset about anything that allows employers to reduce safety standards. Billionaires might not care if their workers get hurt, although if they looked at the economic impact of lost wages, work time, health care, and replacement and training costs, they should.
Trouble ahead for people who want Home health care
Recent statistics show that there are about 4 million people employed in the home health care sector, Almost 3/4 of a million jobs to need to be filled each year, which only gets worse as more and baby boomers need home care. According to NCHStats (2025 report),
59% of agencies currently face worker shortages, reinforcing high demand. Average hourly pay is currently around $14-$18 an hour – if you can find someone to do the work. The majority of workers are immigrants or minorities, so filling those jobs is going to get even tougher with immigrants afraid to show up for work for fear of being deported or put in a cage in the Everglades.
A head scratcher
How anyone at the Labor Department thinks that any employer could find someone qualified who would work for less than $7.25 an hour is a head scratcher. That might be the OK part of their proposal – our prediction is that no one would take those jobs, already very hard to fill, at such a ludicrous wage.
Takes aim at migrant workers
A third proposal from the labor department wants to reduce protections for migrant farm workers. Given that the industry is woefully short of help as it is, this doesn’t seem like such a smart move.
A little rant
The cruelty that people in our government actually think that someone could live on such a paltry wage is mind boggling. Also the stupidity of it. Home health care workers are desperately needed – what should be happening is increasing the minimum wage and doing more to make the work more appealing.
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