In 2017, 1.7 million U.S. women healthcare workers and their children lived below the poverty line — accounting for nearly 5 percent of all people living in poverty nationwide, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health.
The researchers analyzed data from the 2017 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey and found 18 percent of employed women and 23 percent of employed black women work in healthcare. Many of these women work in low-paying jobs.
The researchers found the average hourly wage for female healthcare workers (more than $19/hour) was higher than the average for all other industries (around $16/hour), but it was almost 25 percent lower than the average for men working in healthcare.
Thirty-four percent of female healthcare workers, and almost half of the black and Latina women working in healthcare, earned less than $15/hour, the researchers found.
Although the largest number of healthcare employees making less than $15/hour worked at hospitals, such workers made up a larger share of the total workforce in home healthcare and other residential care facilities.
The researchers also found a lot of female healthcare workers lack health insurance. Overall, 7 percent (estimated to represent over 1 million U.S. women) were uninsured. More than 10 percent of black and Latina women working in healthcare were uninsured.
"Public health experts have been urging hospitals and other healthcare providers to focus on the 'social determinants' of ill health, and these institutions should start by addressing their own employment practices," said lead and corresponding author Kathryn Himmelstein, MD. "But we shouldn't just leave that up to healthcare employers; lawmakers have a tremendous opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty and promote racial and gender justice in healthcare employment by raising statutory minimum wages."