In 2021, the state promised wage increases to about 150,000 disability care workers to address a $1.8 billion dollar gap in pay rates for care providers. But only half of those pay increases have been fulfilled. The workers anticipated another raise of between $2 and $4 an hour in July. In his May budget revision, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to delay those raises in an effort to cut the state budget deficit.
Some advocates say it could lead to longer wait times for patients as the low wages make it difficult to attract workers.
Dolories Simmons is an in-home caregiver and has been caring for Lorraine for five and a half hours a day, five days a week for more than five years. KPBS agreed to only use Lorraine's first name to protect her privacy.
“I cook for her, and I assist her with, like, her medication. You know, I'm her companion. We talk a lot, and I put her to bed. I change her. Whatever needs that need to be done, I do them,” Simmons said.
Simmons said what she provides goes beyond basic needs.
“We're there for them emotionally, physically. You know, their pain is our pain. You know what they go through, we go through,” she said.
She said she earns $17.71 an hour and needs to work two jobs — about 60 hours a week — to make ends meet.
“That is definitely not enough money to live in San Diego on this pay with high rent, food high. I got grandkids that I take care of, so absolutely not,” she said.
Hundreds of advocates gathered last week at the state capitol to ask the governor and state Legislature to "keep their promise" to disability care workers.
Kim Mills, CEO of A Better Life Together, a San Diego-based agency that provides independent living services, said Newsom’s proposal threatens an already fragile system.
“Our agency has a waiting list which means that people aren't receiving services because we can't attract staff. It's a shame,” Mills said.
She said currently there are 50 people on her waiting list in need of a caregiver.
The majority of direct care workers in California are women and people of color and more than half are immigrants
“But they're getting older. And so at some point we're going to have to replace them, which is sad. I think about their quality of life and how things could be a little easier if we can pay them more,” she said.
The California Department of Aging predicts a shortage of between 600,000 and 3.2 million direct care workers in the state by 2030. Advocates say rising wages in other service and health care industries make it harder to compete for workers.
But Simmons plans to keep adding to her 30 years of caregiving.
“I'm 57 and I'm, I'm not fit to be flipping nobody's hamburgers. I mean, the money is there. They making more more than me. I'm sticking it out where I'm at because I love doing the work,” she said.
The Legislature has to approve the budget by June 15.
