Fastest-Growing Job in U.S. Pays Very Poorly

The fastest-growing job in the U.S. is also one of the poorest-paying.

Demand for home health care aides — who cook, clean and care for the sick and disabled — is expected to grow at an explosive rate of 70% between 2010 and 2020, reports CNNMoney.

However, the growth isn’t showing in the pay. The average pay for a worker in the field is $9.70 per hour, which comes to $20,176 per year for a 40-hour full time worker. Even so, many workers in the field are only part-time and make less — and receive no benefits from their employers.

There are more than 2 million workers — mostly women and minorities — in the position across the country currently. According to the Department of Labor, about 40% of those workers are also on some form of public assistance.

Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliances, told CNNMoney, “What you have is a situation here where the people that we count on to care for our families cannot take care of their own, and that’s got to change.”

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