Personal Care Aides as Household Employees and Independent Contractors: Estimating the Size and Job Characteristics of the Workforce.

The presence of household employees and independent contractors has important implications for PCAs' job characteristics and labor shortage in the U.S. home care industry. Considering the potentially negative consequences for both the aides' economic security and the quality of care that consumers can receive, attention should be paid to ways to bring the aides into a more formal employment arrangement.