Average Wages

• About 21,140 people in Wisconsin work as caregivers, according to May 2009 BLS statistics. They earn an average of $10.53 an hour or $21,910 annually. The median wage, which is the midpoint of all wages reported among Wisconsin caregivers, is $10.38 an hour and $21,580 a year. The highest paid caregivers in Wisconsin can earn $13.90 an hour or about $28,290. Many workers in this profession find opportunities in home health care services. Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals offer the highest wages in this field.
  
  

Training and Certification

• Caregivers generally don't need to have a high school diploma and usually receive on-the-job training. Home health aides working for agencies that receive reimbursement from Medicare or Medicaid must complete a 75-hour training program and a competency evaluation or state certification program. In addition to learning the specific duties on the position, Wisconsin promotes additional training targeted at preventing abuse and neglect in long-term care settings. This program helps caregivers develop communication skills, recognize and respect professional boundaries and respond to their client's emotional needs.
  
  

Wisconsin Caregiver Law

• In addition to training and certification, employers look for home health aides to be responsible, compassionate, patient, emotionally stable, cheerful and to have a clean record. The Wisconsin Caregiver Law, which took effect in 1999, requires background and criminal history checks on home health aides who work for adult day care centers, adult family homes, substance abuse treatment programs, hospitals, health clinics, residential care homes and other facilities regulated by the Wisconsin health department. The legislation requires these facilities to investigate and report incidents of misconduct.
  
  

Job Outlook

• Due to the rise in the number of older Americans over the next decade, the BLS projects employment opportunities for caregivers to increase 50 percent between 2008 and 2018. Older individuals who have health problems that require assistance with daily activities will generate a need for caregivers. A growing preference among people with disabilities to live independently, instead of in nursing facilities, also will increase the demand for home health aides. A high turnover rate in this field, nationally and in some parts of Wisconsin, will increase the demand for workers to fill these roles.