Workforce shortages in the aged and long-term care systems are a global phenomenon. Key social policy reforms to grow direct care workforce numbers are currently underway in nations like Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, all while in the context of expanding regulatory requirements and consistent demands for high-quality, person-centred care. This symposium examines how public policy, through staffing regulation, wage setting, migration, and employment rights, impacts the quality and stability of care work. Drawing on four empirical studies, we integrate qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods evidence from across each of these nations. First, analysis of cross-national policy documents of direct care workforce recruitment, noting consistent themes of targeted migration policy to expedite recruitment. Second, research that examines the limited workforce pools in rural Australia and the capacity of aged care providers to produce tailored initiatives that enhance recruitment and retention endeavours. Third, cross-national analysis of public procurement as policy levers to shape employer behaviour and improve job quality in social care. Fourth, early findings from England’s Fair Pay Agreement in Adult Social Care and Employment Rights reforms establish baseline workforce conditions and map implementation pathways, risks, and anticipated impacts on job quality and care provision. Finally, a discussant will draw together common themes and identify future directions as evident from each of the research presentation. Together, these papers move beyond documenting workforce crisis to interrogating how regulatory design, collective bargaining, and wage policy operate in practice. The session will advances a comparative policy lens on care work, asking not only how much labour systems require—but how they can be structured to make care work sustainable, equitable, and aligned with the goals of high-quality, person-centred care.