Occupational training and credentialing requirements for direct care workers were in place for consumers’ health and safety, but their effects on job qualities and labor shortages in the direct care industry have been controversial. Using a nationally representative sample of psychiatric, nursing, and home health aides, a series of Average Treatment Effect models were analyzed to examine the effects of occupational credentials on various measures of job qualities. The findings revealed that credential-holding was related to higher annual earnings and increased probability of working full-time, year-round, and having access to employer-provided health insurance and retirement savings plans. The positive effects, however, were modest in size and suggested that, given the current wage and benefit levels for direct care workers, training and credential requirements cannot be the key to resolving job quality and labor shortage issues in the direct care industry. Implications of these findings and alternative ways to address the issues were discussed.

中文翻译：

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直接护理人员的职业资格和工作素质：对劳动力短缺的影响

为了消费者的健康和安全，对直接护理人员的职业培训和资格认证要求已经到位，但它们对直接护理行业的工作质量和劳动力短缺的影响一直存在争议。使用具有全国代表性的精神病学、护理学和家庭健康助理样本，分析了一系列平均治疗效果模型，以检查职业证书对各种工作质量衡量标准的影响。调查结果显示，持有证书与更高的年收入和增加全职、全年工作的可能性以及获得雇主提供的健康保险和退休储蓄计划的可能性有关。然而，积极影响的规模并不大，表明鉴于直接护理人员目前的工资和福利水平，培训和证书要求不能成为解决直接护理行业工作质量和劳动力短缺问题的关键。讨论了这些发现的影响以及解决这些问题的替代方法。