In the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report, “Affordable Care Act of 2010: Creating Job Opportunities for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Populations,” people of color are expected to make up at least one-third of the U.S. health care workforce within a decade. With racial minorities already comprising one-third of the health care workforce, the report says it’s likely that people of color will hold and possibly exceed this current share given that much of the job growth will be in low –and mid-skill positions where minorities are now well-represented.
“As insurance coverage expands under ACA, people will increasingly access health care services, particularly primary care services. A corresponding increase in the supply of health care workers is likely to be necessary to meet the increase in the demand for health care services,” the report says.
The report notes that the employment prediction for racial minorities “is almost certainly lower than what will occur, because many people of color — especially Blacks and Hispanics — are in occupations that are among the fastest growing in the U.S.” Dr. Joanne Spetz, a University of California, San Francisco economics professor, and Dr. Bianca Frogner, an assistant professor at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, are co-authors of the report.
Spetz said that “a huge amount of growth is going to come in the long-term care” and home health sectors, which employ significant numbers of low- to mid-skill professionals such as home care assistants and nursing aides. With ACA provisions not expected to add much new demand, the Joint Center report says those sectors had been projected for significant growth regardless of the act.
“There’s this tremendous burgeoning of opportunities” expected in the long-term care and home health fields, she said.
Current “glitches in the Affordable Care Act [rollout] and the slowdown in insurance enrollment” that have been heavily covered by the news media may affect the occupations whose future growth is believed to be closely tied to the ACA. Those occupations include “registered nurses, health practitioner support technicians, medical assistants, medical secretaries, diagnostic technicians, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacists,” and are likely to see at least one-third of their growth result from demand changes spurred by ACA provisions, according to the Joint Center report.
