Nearly 20% of U.S. health care workers are immigrants

As the current administration continues to enact policies that make it challenging for foreign workers to come to the U.S., a new study finds that more than 18% of the health care workers who care for the elderly and disabled in the U.S. are immigrants. Here’s more on the findings:

• By setting: More than a quarter of immigrant workers were in direct-care settings, which includes providing nursing, psychiatric aid, or other home help.
• By immigration status: Some 43% of immigrant workers living in the country illegally were employed in long-term care settings. Naturalized citizens made up 16% of home health agency workers and nearly 14% of all direct-care workers.
• Comparison to U.S. workers: More than 30% of immigrant health workers were employed in long-term care settings compared to about 22% of U.S.-born workers.