When the new state-run nursing-care insurance system was launched in April, many of its planners predicted it would lead to better working conditions and salaries for home helpers.
Yet the opposite has occurred. Many of the home helpers who provide care to the elderly say they have seen their hourly wages dwindle by as much as 30 percent.
The home-helper program is a key element of the public nursing-care insurance system. Under the system, workers provide nursing-care services to people aged 65 or older at home if such care is deemed necessary.