We Care About Care: Demanding Care-Friendly Policies for All Hoosiers
By Zia Saylor
We all want to live in a state that makes it possible to provide care for ourselves, our families, and our loved ones. Unfortunately, Indiana’s existing care-focused legislation lacks key policies, earning our state a D- on the 2024 scorecard from The Century Foundation. Indiana was also among the lowest-ranked of the Midwest states (ranked 38 out of 50), with Illinois (18), Iowa (23), Kansas (33), Michigan (20), Minnesota (5), Nebraska (22), North Dakota (24), Ohio (27), and Wisconsin (26) all ranking higher, and only South Dakota (45) ranking lower. While we celebrate our Midwest peers, increasing Indiana’s competitiveness on the scale of care policies would benefit our economy by making it a more attractive state to live, work, and raise families of all sizes and shapes in.
Here’s what we were graded on:
- Child Care and Early Learning
- Home and Community-Based Services/Aging and Disability Care
- Fair Working Conditions for Care Workers
- Paid Family and Medical Leave
- Paid Sick and Safe Days
And here’s why we received the grade we did:
On this grading scale, Indiana fell most strikingly short in the category of Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML), for which it lacks a statewide policy and as a result has an estimated 2,601,000 workers (76 percent of the workforce) without access to this necessity. PFML is an essential care-friendly policy, as it prevents workers from having to choose between care for self or a family member and wages. Without PFML, workers–disproportionately women–are forced to leave the labor force during times of prolonged illness, childbirth recovery, or caregiving, which can trigger a financial spiral downwards. Estimates indicate that with PFML, Indiana would have an additional 120,000 workers in the labor force, and an increase in $3.8 billion earned within the state which would support families and contribute to tax revenues. In this category, some states earned extra points for policies with broad coverage, progressive compensation, and job protections; however, to have even been eligible for those points, Indiana would have to have been one of the thirteen states with such legislation to begin with.
As with PFML, Indiana is not a state with paid sick and safe day legislation. These policies ensure that workers can earn paid time off for shorter episodes of illness, like a cold or flu, and needs arising from domestic violence. Unlike the 14 states with such a law in place, the majority of working Hoosiers (53 percent) report being unable to take a paid day off when they are sick. This leads to prolonged periods of illness, increased healthcare costs, and harms worker wellbeing.
Caring for care workers is also critically important, and our Midwest neighbor Illinois scored particularly high in this category–that of Fair Working Conditions for Medical Workers. Illinois is one of the eight states that has passed a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights law, guaranteeing protections against harassment, discrimination, and exploitation of workers in this industry. In this same category, Indiana also fell short for lacking legislation supportive of care unions and setting living wages for care workers.
Indiana has made strides in the category of “Child Care and Early Learning” with a 2023 expansion of a program providing pre-k vouchers for children from low-income families, as well as new tax credits for businesses to offer employees childcare. While these recent investments make progress towards addressing the affordable childcare crisis in Indiana, concerns still remain for the 72 percent of Hoosiers in rural “childcare deserts.” Because the mean annual wage for childcare workers in Indiana remains relatively low compared to other states (ranging from roughly $27,000 to $29,000 in May 2023), childcare homes and centers struggle to recruit and retain workers, perpetuating childcare inaccessibility. As a result, further policy action is needed both within this category and in adjacent care categories to ensure that Indiana’s recent investment is maximized.
Finally, in the last category of “Home and Community-Based Services/Aging and Disability Care,” The Century Foundation used assessments and grading from the AARP Public Policy Institute, which ranked Indiana 27th nationwide in 2023. Examining the components behind the ranking reveals that Indiana excels relative to other states in integrating long-term services and supports into the community (ranked 5th out of all states). However, the recent transition to Pathways to Aging programming may impact this rating, particularly as some elderly Hoosiers report difficulties in accessing care and transition planning. Beyond this shift that may harm Indiana’s future rating, the current rating reflects how Indiana lags as one of the worst states for providing support for family caregivers (ranked 39th) and lacks affordable and accessible care options (ranked 35th). This is unsurprising given Indiana’s attempt in January 2024 to defund parental caretakers of children with disabilities, one that the Institute pushed back on. Despite the fact that Indiana has a population of 1,457,378 adults with a disability, and a population of elderly residents needing care that is projected to grow by 146,000 in the coming years, the state has not adequately prioritized care for these individuals or constructed policy that will be sustainable for future care needs.
Indiana also lost out on several key opportunities for “extra credit” points, which were offered for the following categories:
Fair Scheduling
Already, nine states have “fair scheduling” laws which require employers to provide predictable and stable hours for employees, as opposed to the status quo in which many workers are left to fend for themselves and their families with little notice of when they are scheduled or have a canceled shift. Indiana is not one of the nine states with such a law, meaning that the current work climate without routine hours prevents many part-time carers from working in the hours that they are not caring, and creates additional scheduling and care burdens for individuals needing to be a carer full-time. Not having a policy requiring regular scheduling also impacts parents, as childcare centers within Indiana already struggle to have enough places for children, let alone last-minute slots for those suddenly informed of a work shift.
Supportive Tax Policies
We are proud to celebrate Indiana as one of the thirty-two states with an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and have actively advocated for expansion of this credit. That being said, there are ways that we could have earned more points in this category. While Indiana does have a state-level EITC, this falls short of what other states have implemented to maximize support for low- to middle-income families. Among changes needed for the future: access to the EITC with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number would allow tax-paying immigrants to access the credit (enacted by eight states and the District of Columbia) and an increase in the amount offered by the EITC (Indiana currently offers 10 percent of the federal level, which we celebrate in its refundability but is one of the lowest rates among enacting states).
Next, Indiana lacks a state-level Child Tax Credit (CTC). Given the costs of childcare and the lack of Paid Family and Medical Leave (discussed above), a CTC in Indiana, particularly a refundable one, would go a long way to ensure that Hoosiers across race, place, and income bracket are able to raise families in Indiana without being priced out. A state-level CTC would help the one in five children in Indiana currently in poverty, as well as those above the official poverty level but in precarious financial positions. The implementation of the CTC also generates multi-generational benefits, providing parents with a path towards a brighter future for their children.
Indiana is also one of twenty states without a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC). This tax credit is applicable to low- to middle-income families with a child or adult dependent on them for care. Unlike the CTC, it is not at all refundable at the federal level, though seven states have implemented refundable versions. The CDCTC is designed specifically to offset costs from childcare against taxable income, reducing the amount of taxes owed to compensate for care work. Indiana lacks such a tax credit, however, which increases care cost for low-income families.
Pregnant Worker Fairness
While the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was passed in 2022 and became enforced starting June 2023, many states already had state-level protections for pregnant and postpartum workers. Indiana, again, was not one of them. While the Institute is currently conducting a Know Your Rights campaign funded by the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, the state of Indiana has joined a 17-state lawsuit against the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act protections allowing time off for recovery from abortion. This demonstrates that despite community need and support for additional protections for pregnant and postpartum workers, the state continues to deprioritize and undermine such work, devaluing the difficult process of fertility and childbirth as work that deserves to be protected and cared for.
The Bottom Line
While the verdict could currently go either way on whether we see policy improvement in the coming year, this grade is a call to action and presents a unique opportunity for YOU to get involved. The same areas in which Indiana scored poorly last year are areas where legislative change could happen as soon as this summer’s legislative session. Would you like to be able to access paid family and medical leave when you have an ill family member? Do you believe that we should value those who spend time taking care of their loved ones? If so, then take action. Send your legislator a letter on our Action Network campaign, tell them what care policies you would like to see, and ask them what commitments they will make to care about Hoosier families. Join the listserv at Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute to stay up to date on ways to get involved and offer testimony.