On the frontlines of the health care and social assistance industry, Personal Care Aides are one of the fastest growing and most in-demand jobs in Minnesota right now. Typically working with either the elderly or people with disabilities, Personal Care Aides (PCAs) assist with daily living activities at the client’s home or in a care facility. In addition to doing basic housekeeping chores like making beds, doing laundry, washing dishes, and preparing meals PCAs form helpful relationships with clients.
Not only there a lot of these jobs available, they are also relatively easy to get. Job seekers who want to get started in this career usually need just a high school diploma. In fact, most personal care aides are trained on-the-job and get up to speed very quickly – typically the training lasts less than a month.
PCAs should be friendly and provide excellent personal and customer service, focusing on meeting quality standards and following rules. They would need to learn how to administer basic health care or medical treatments and need to be detailed in documenting the health progress of their clients. With experience and additional training, PCAs can move quickly into other healthcare occupations such as trained medication aides, certified nursing assistants, and home health aides; all of which are also in high demand.
With low educational and skill requirements, these jobs also offer relatively low wages. Half of all PCA jobs in Minnesota pay between $11.53 and $14.43 per hour, with an average hourly wage of $13.04. While many other jobs saw large numbers of layoffs, demand remains high for PCAs across the state. There were more than 6,600 job vacancies for PCAs in Minnesota in the fourth quarter of 2019, and it was the most commonly posted job on the major job banks in Minnesota through the month of April.
If you are interested in more information about opportunities as a Personal Care Aide, check out Jobs in Demand here on the CareerForceMN.com website for wage ranges, educational and training requirements, current open positions in Minnesota and more.
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