State of the Workforce – Aging and Disabilities

There is a well-known workforce crisis in the United States when it comes to direct support.

To meet the critical need for data on this workforce – including information on wages, benefits, retention, and turnover – NCI-AD began piloting a ‘State of the Workforce’ survey in 2022 with five states: Missouri, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

As with the original NCI-IDD State of the Workforce survey, which debuted in 2014, the Aging and Disabilities version collects data about the status of direct service workers (DSWs) from provider organizations. The first round of data collection for the State of the Workforce—Aging and Disabilities begins in summer 2023.

Why a State of the Workforce—Aging and Disabilities?

There is a lack of data about the direct service workforce serving older adults and people with disabilities
We need to assess how the workforce is changing and document recruitment and retention challenges
To get the word out about trends in this critical workforce, we need a standardized and validated method of collecting workforce data
We need a unified, comprehensive picture of the workforce—that is, a national data source

How will these data be used?

Once the State of the Workforce is launched, participating states can use the results in a number of ways:

Within state and federal workforce initiatives
Within government partnerships
As context for understanding NCI-AD outcomes data
As baseline data for future analysis
Within budget projections
In policy planning
As part of stakeholder engagement
Within their quality assurance efforts