The purpose of the Aged Care Worker Survey is to have a better understanding of how satisfied the aged care workforce is, what their working conditions are and how to attract and keep the right people working in aged care.

Since the last survey in 2016, several policy and environmental changes have affected the aged care workforce such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the final report from the Royal Commission in to Aged Care Quality and Safety, and requirements to have a registered nurse in every residential aged care facility since 2013. 

To get the best insights from this survey, the results should be used together with other aged care workforce data such as the recently released Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey 2023.

Key findings

• Respondents were mainly female (87.4%) and born in Australia (56.6%).
• 2.5% of respondents identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. 
• Most respondents were personal / home care workers and assistants (71.6%), followed by nurses (22.8%) and allied health professionals (5.6%).
• Most respondents worked permanent part-time (58.7%), followed by casual (20.8%) and permanent full-time (18.0%).
• The average age of respondents was 47 years.
• Most respondents worked an average of 26.4 paid hours and 6.5 unpaid hours in the week before the survey. 
• Most respondents reported working unpaid hours because there was too much work to do.
• Most respondents were satisfied working in aged care (64.7%) and were dissatisfied with their total pay (40.3%).
• 4.6% of respondents have not completed an educational qualification.