NYC's Job Boom Is Fueled by Taxpayer-Funded $38,280 Health Gigs.

New York City has experienced a job boom since Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2022, with the city regaining all the jobs lost during the pandemic. However, the majority of the jobs added in the past year have been in the low-paying field of home health care, which is primarily funded through publicly funded health programs like Medicaid. Without the growth in home health care, the city's private-sector jobs would have actually contracted. The increase in home health care jobs is attributed to a state policy change in 2015 that loosened eligibility rules for Medicaid benefits. While some argue that the program provides paid work for caregivers who would be doing the work anyway, others are concerned about the strain on the state's finances and the potential for fraud. The growth in home health care jobs has also highlighted the challenges that other sectors of the city's economy still face in recovering from the pandemic. [Extracted from the article]