According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an American “Baby Boomer” turns 65 every 13 seconds…that’s 10,000 new seniors every day.At that rate, it’s estimated that there will be 70 million senior citizens in America by 2030: twice the present-day number.

Wanted: Personal and home care workers…lots of them!.

This, in addition to rising rates of age- and non-age-related ailments, is poised to see a veritable explosion in additional positions in the personal care industry. The landscape for job prospects for both home health aides and personal care aides is incredible, no matter how you look at it.

(The two jobs are often similar but the Department of Labor makes a technical distinction between them because home health aides can administer medication and/or check on a client’s vitals, under the direction of an RN in some states.)

The number of people working as personal care aides alone has already grown from 534,000 to 985,000 between 2002 and 2012 – an increase of 118 per cent. By 2022, this explosion of available jobs is expected to grow by an additional 50 per cent, adding 581,000 more personal care positions to the U.S. healthcare sector. It can, also serve as a gateway to other jobs in the medical field.

Similar healthcare jobs also in demand

In addition to as many as a million more personal and home care jobs opening up in the next few decades, our aging population may see the creation of as many as 312,000 new nursing assistant jobs, in the next decade alone. Unlike home health aides or personal care aides, nursing assistants usually perform personal care tasks for patients in hospitals, clinics, or nursing homes.

Nursing assistants typically require more training than home health aides or personal care aides and earn slightly more, at an average of $24,000 a year. Certified nursing assistants earn an average of $40,000 a year, with the top of the pay scale reaching to around $65,000 a year.