Counting care workers: when the ‘muddle’ is the message

In Chapter 5, Counting Care Workers: When the “Muddle” is the Message, authors Tamara Daly, Sara Charlesworth, Frode F. Jacobsen, and Katherine Laxer look at what we actually know about long-term care workers, the people who make care for older adults possible. Their big question: Do policymakers have the data they need to plan for an aging population?

Across Australia, Canada, and Norway, the authors find the same problem: the data is messy. It’s inconsistent, incomplete, or hard to access. In other words, the very information needed to plan and evaluate long-term care services is a muddle.

And that muddle has real consequences. Without clear data, governments can’t see where shortages exist, how conditions are changing, or whether policies are working. Care workers end up overstretched, and older adults risk not getting the support they need.

The takeaway is simple: age equity depends on better data. Until long-term care workforce information becomes clearer and more accessible, we can’t build the systems older adults deserve.

To read the full chapter and the rest of our book find it here on the Bristol University Press Digital webpage