The Review and Analysis of Existing Data on the Aged Care Workforce and the Design and Distribution of a Census and Survey on the Aged Care Workforce

As Australia's demographic structure changes, it is widely accepted that our aged care sector will face new problems. There is much concern that existing employment levels will be insufficient to cope with the future care needs of the elderly. This study examined the dimensions of the aged care workforce (its size, skill base etc) from existing data sources and collected new data from facilities (a census of three thousand establishments) and their workers (a selective sample of over six thousand persons). On this basis, the aged care sector does not appear to be facing any serious workforce crisis.