Bruised after 179 hours of work for W2m: The toll of care jobs on older women

When older women who have left the workforce try to re-enter the job market, care work is where many end up. Among the options available, working as a licensed care worker — a relatively accessible path — has become especially popular. But those on the ground say the job demands physical and emotional endurance on top of near-minimum-wage pay and precarious employment.

Data released Wednesday by the National Health Insurance Service on the number of care workers by age group, covering 2023 through April this year, shows that both the number of licensed care workers and the number actually employed have risen rapidly. As of April this year, 1,762,400 people aged 60 or older held a care worker license — an increase of 577,093, or 48.7 percent, from 1,185,307 in 2023, in just three years.

The number of care workers actively on the job grew from about 380,000 to about 480,000 over the same period. An official at a women's re-employment center in Seoul said people in their 60s and older tend to gravitate toward care work. "They are generally past the standard retirement age, so many go into nursing homes or day and night care centers," the official said.

The center serves women ranging from their 20s to their 60s, but the older they are, the harder it becomes to find work that draws on their previous experience. Women in their late 40s or 50s often obtain social worker licenses and enter related fields as entry-level hires, while those in their 60s and beyond tend to move into care settings such as nursing homes or day care centers.

For women re-entering the labor market after a career break, care work is one of the faster routes back in. "Up to around their mid-40s, some women can still get entry-level office jobs, but after that it becomes difficult even with experience," the official said. "Care work and cleaning tend to get people hired a bit faster — if the conditions match, someone can start the very next day."

Jeon Hyeon-uk, secretary-general of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' Care Service Workers' Union, said care work has become one of the main occupations drawing women in their late 50s and early 60s. "In the past, many who entered the field had lower levels of education, but now there are many college graduates, and even people who left jobs at banks and other institutions find it hard to get hired elsewhere after a career break and end up choosing care work," he said.

Returning to the workforce, however, does not allow these women to make up the income and pension gaps created by their earlier career breaks. Jeon pointed to the absence of a proper wage structure for care workers as a core problem. "Because there is no wage structure to speak of, long-term care facilities simply default to paying the minimum wage, and for far too many workers, the minimum wage becomes their wage," he said.

A 2023 survey by the National Health Insurance Service Research Institute covering 256,366 care workers found that those employed at residential facilities — including nursing homes and group homes for the elderly — worked an average of 179 hours a month and earned an average monthly wage of 2.03 million to 2.14 million won ($1,580).

Even as experience accumulates, it is rarely fully recognized. Long-service incentives are currently paid at one, three, five and seven years of continuous service, but workers who change employers lose credit for their prior years. "If someone has been working as a care worker, all of that experience should be recognized even if they move to a different facility," Jeon said. "It is unfair that changing jobs resets their tenure to zero and disqualifies them from long-service incentives."

The work itself is grueling. Care workers at residential facilities bear significant physical strain from supporting and moving elderly residents with limited mobility or dementia. Workers on the ground say it is not uncommon to come away bruised or injured while caring for residents who wander or become aggressive.

In home-visit care, emotional labor compounds the physical burden. Workers must manage not only the needs of the elderly person in their care but also the demands of family guardians. They are sometimes asked to perform tasks beyond their designated duties, such as preparing meals, washing dishes and cleaning the home.

Because contracts are typically renewed on a one-year basis, workers often endure mistreatment rather than risk losing their jobs at renewal time. Jeon described the situation as one in which "care workers hold their breath and just keep working."

Job security is also fragile. In home-visit care, work can disappear without warning when a client is hospitalized, moves into a residential facility or dies. Workers also lose assignments when an elderly person or their guardian requests a replacement.

To improve conditions for care workers, Jeon said a seniority-based wage structure must be established and prior experience must be recognized even when workers change employers. "Social workers receive pay increases based on a wage guideline tied to years of service, but no such system exists for care workers," he said. "All the years someone has worked as a care worker should count, regardless of where they work." He added that care work is a field requiring genuine expertise and that recognizing care workers as skilled professionals is essential.

Kim Nan-ju, a research fellow at the Korean Women's Development Institute, said care workers are a prime example of a field where accumulated experience goes largely unrewarded. "There are cases where the income gap between a first-year and a tenth-year care worker is not that large, because experience is not adequately recognized," she said, adding that improving working conditions must also include addressing occupational hazards such as musculoskeletal disorders and emotional labor.

"In the long run, the value of care work needs to be properly assessed," Kim said. "These women are responsible not only for private caregiving but for public caregiving as well."