This Labor Day, as we honor the contributions of workers across the nation, I’m thinking about a group too often overlooked: the human services workforce.
These are the home health aides, childcare providers, nursing assistants, case managers, and social workers who make it possible for families to thrive. They care for our children, our elders, and our loved ones with disabilities. They hold our communities together—and yet, they’re barely getting by.
One in nine New Yorkers works in human services, a field that has nearly doubled in size since 2000. But despite the growing demand for these essential jobs, the people doing them remain chronically underpaid. Most human services workers are women of color, many of whom are immigrants. They are the backbone of care in this state—and yet, they’re paid poverty wages.
While they help others access food, shelter, education, and care, many of them are unable to attain the resources they need to thrive, not just survive, and become economically secure. Human services workers experience higher rates of poverty and rely more heavily on public benefits than workers in most other sectors. That’s not only unjust—it’s unsustainable.
You can’t build strong communities on the backs of workers who can’t afford to live and care for themselves and their families.
State lawmakers cannot allow New York to continue to devalue its most essential workers or the millions who depend on them.
Right now, there’s legislation under consideration in Albany that would take a crucial step toward addressing the long-standing wage crisis in the human services sector. Senate Bill S8337, sponsored by State Sen. Leroy Comrie, proposes the establishment of a base wage for human services workers who are employed by nonprofit organizations delivering essential state-funded programs that provide vital health, mental health, housing, social and early education services to some of New York’s most vulnerable residents. Put simply, this bill would guarantee that the people doing this life-saving work are paid a wage that combats poverty and prioritizes economic security. It is a common-sense measure that recognizes the value of these workers and ensures they are no longer forced to choose between helping others and thriving themselves.
It is a matter of basic dignity and economic justice to invest in the people who care for our loved ones and community members.
The BUMP campaign—short for Bring Up Minimum Pay—is advocating for the passage of this bill and other reforms to address wage inequity in the human services sector. Our message is clear: No one who works full-time helping others should have to live in poverty.
Currently, human services workers in New York earn about $40,000 a year on average. This average salary does not meet the basic costs of living for a single adult, nor does it promote economic security. In fact, the resulting gap in income, due to poverty level wages, represents not just financial hardship, but lost potential: missed doctor’s appointments, unstable housing, stress, and burnout that pushes dedicated professionals out of the field entirely. Importantly, BUMP legislation mandates not only a wage floor of $29 an hour but requires an annualized adjustment to income. BUMP ensures human service workers do not just survive but thrive by benefitting from tangible income growth needed to achieve true economic security.
Of course, economic security affects both low- and moderate-income Americans nationally in urban and rural settings. But the challenge is especially acute in places like New York, where wages lag behind skyrocketing living costs. A recent Urban Institute study, commissioned by the National True Cost of Living Coalition, found that 54 percent of New Yorkers can’t make ends meet—a figure that rises to 62 percent for families with children. This means most struggle to cover basics like housing, food, transportation, childcare, internet and healthcare, with little left for savings, retirement, or their children’s education.
Research from CUNY’s Institute for State and Local Governance documents this is the case for our human services workforce. From Buffalo to Brooklyn, wages fall short of what is needed to live—regardless of how “affordable” an area may seem. Upstate or downstate, the math does not add up.
And yet, these workers show up every day. They care for strangers as if they were family. They provide safety, comfort, and support in people’s most vulnerable moments. They do the labor of love—and they deserve wages that reflect their value.
On Labor Day, let’s not just thank human services workers. Let’s fight for them. Let’s raise our voices for the people who’ve spent their careers lifting others. Let’s fight for the workers who’ve always been there for our communities and demand fair wages, job security, and the recognition they’ve long been denied.
We need action. We need justice. We need to pass Bill S8337.
Keith Little is a consultant to the BUMP Campaign. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org. Research commissioned by BUMP and performed by CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (CUNY ISLG) can be found at www.bump-ny.com and www.islg.cuny.edu/resources/critical-services-low-wages.