Human services employees laboring under 130% pay gap

State Associations in the News

Tags: 

Human Services

Massachusetts

Pay Gap

Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, said that pay for caretakers who work for community-based organizations still lags far behind that of those who are directly employed by the state despite recent action of the Baker administration to increase benchmark salaries in the space, a dynamic that he said leads to "a two-tier system of care where it becomes nearly impossible to recruit and retain high-quality workers" to help meet the needs of some of the state's most vulnerable populations.

"The state reported that they're paying an average weekly wage of $1,274 to state employees in the individual and family services area, while the community-based human services sector reported paying average wages of just $548," Weekes told the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. "This is a pay gap of more than 130%, which is an insurmountable challenge to our workforce crisis."

Weekes told the committee that the pay disparity data was "alarming" and that "it seemingly is getting worse."

Source Name: 

Worcester Business Journal

Source Link: 

https://www.wbjournal.com/article/human-services-employees-laboring-unde...