Dramatically improving the pay and status of direct care workers may be a good place to start. If you’re reading this column, odds are you’re aware the U.S. population is aging and older Americans are living longer, on average. Still, the numbers are striking. For instance, average life expectancy for men at age 65 in 1950 was 13.1 years and for women 16.2 years, according to the Social Security Administration. The current figures are 18.09 years and 20.7 years, respectively. “Aging is actually living, and that longevity is a good thing,” said Ai-jen Poo, president of National Domestic Workers Alliance and executive director of Caring Across Generations during a recent panel discussion at Columbia University’s 2022 Age Boom Academy entitled Caregiving and Our Longer Lives. “Aging means longer to learn and to connect and to love and to teach.”
