Congress has an opportunity to create a new paradigm for employment that will cost taxpayers close to nothing and create new, better, safer work opportunities for caregivers while making it easier for families and seniors to get the help they need.  Play this “Two Truths and a Lie” game to learn more about it!

A. An American caregiver program would especially benefit women.

B. A caregiver program could build off of the existing au pair program.

C. It is easy for families to find affordable caregiving.

Let’s take these statements one at a time:

A. Truth! According to the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, more than 600,000 domestic workers—including care aides, nannies, and housekeepers—are employed by households in the U.S. The vast majority of these domestic workers are women. 

This proposed program could provide opportunities for students, young people, and  the growing share of Americans—particularly older women—who are approaching retirement but feel financially insecure: they could save on housing costs, while working and saving for retirement.

B.  Truth! The State Department created the au pair program in the 1980s, when many mothers entered the workforce, to allow young foreign nationals to come to the United States for one or two years as an au pair, live with an American family, and provide that family with up to 45 hours of child care per week.

Congress should create a new American Caregivers Program, housed within the Department of Labor, replicating the State Department’s structure overseeing caregivers and host families. In this new program, private sponsor organizations would oversee these work/host relationships and Congress would expressly preempt certain existing federal and state requirements—including those governing wages, record-keeping, and the landlord/tenant relationship—that would complicate or impede successful implementation. As with the current au pair program, employers would need to pay the sponsor organization for their service in identifying and vetting a domestic caregiver and for overseeing the relationship. 

C.  Lie! For millions of families with children, child care is expensive, hard to find, and too inflexible to meet their specific needs. Additionally, millions of seniors need additional support and assistance so they can age in place, but it’s hard to find qualified and affordable help. 

Policymakers can help address all of these issues by making it easier for families and seniors to offer live-in caregiving roles, through the creation of an American Caregiver Program.

Bottom Line:

America has a caregiver problem. An American Caregiver program can help families struggling to afford the high costs of child care and elder care. It will also protect workers through program oversight and create new and improved work opportunities for communities that need it.

To learn more, read the Policy Focus on An American Caregiver Program