Frontline healthcare worker jobs are among the fastest growing occupations in the USA. While many of these are 'bad jobs' with low pay and few benefits, the intrinsic nature of frontline work can also be very rewarding. This article examines the influence of extrinsic job characteristics (e.g. wages and benefits) versus intrinsic characteristics (e.g. meaningful tasks) on job satisfaction and intent to stay with one's current employer. This article uses a mixed-methods approach, drawing on survey data collected from frontline workers and organizations in a variety of healthcare settings, as well as interview and focus group data from frontline workers to contextualize and interpret the findings in the multi-level models. The results indicate that both intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics are significant predictors of job satisfaction, but only extrinsic characteristics help explain intent to stay with the employer.

IMPORTANCEThe health care sector lost millions of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and job recovery has been slow, particularly in long-term care. OBJECTIVE To identify which health care workers were at highest risk of exiting the health care workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted among individuals employed full-time in health care jobs from 2019 to 2021 in the US. Using the data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we compared turnover rates before the pandemic

Feminized care work occupations have traditionally paid lower wages compared to non-care work occupations when controlling for human capital. However, when men enter feminized occupations, they often experience a "glass escalator," leading to higher wages and career mobility as compared to their female counterparts. in this study, we examine whether men experience a "wage penalty" for performing care work in today's economy, or whether the glass escalator helps to mitigate the devaluation of care work occupations. Using data from the Survey of income and Program Participation for the years 1996-2011, we examine the career patterns of low-and middle-skill men in health care occupations. We found that men in occupations that provide the most hands-on direct care did experience lower earnings compared to men in other occupations after controlling for demographic characteristics. However, men in more technical allied health occupations did not have significantly lower earnings, suggesting that these occupations may be part of the glass escalator for men in the health care sector. minority men were significantly more likely than white men to be in direct care occupations, but not in frontline allied health occupations. male direct care workers were less likely to transition to unemployment compared to men in other occupations.

High-performance work practices that integrate FLWs in health care teams and provide FLWs with opportunities for participative decision making can positively influence job satisfaction and perceived quality of care, but only when implemented as bundles of complementary policies and practices.

Our findings have implications for understanding turnover among low-wage health care workers and the use of proxies such as employment intentions in measuring turnover.