Home care development in Korea and Germany: The interplay of long‐term care and professionalization policies

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of the study was to compare the effects of long‐term care and professionalization policies on the development of home care infrastructure and the care workforce in reference to long‐term care insurance systems adopted in Germany and Korea. A comparative analysis of the effects of the two policy systems allowed us to examine distinct forms of marketized home care service expansion. In both countries, the opening‐up of care markets has brought about a significant expansion of home care services through the active participation of mainly for‐profit providers. However, a trade‐off between the rate of expansion, the quality of care services, and the stability of care infrastructure has emerged. The market‐based expansion of home care services has resulted in difficult employment and working conditions for care workers in both countries. The country‐specific organization of home care and related professionalization approaches has led to the development of a well‐trained care workforce with less precarious conditions in Germany but not in Korea. Despite this difference, less well‐trained care workers experience precarious employment in both countries.