The industry does face other price pressures which keep wages low.

Keeping the cost of home care affordable for the elderly is key. Medicare and Medicaid funding cuts due to healthcare reform as well as state budget constraints are also a factor .

"There is a delicate balance between how much seniors and their families can afford -- because they have limited resources -- and how much is appropriate to pay a caregiver," Home Instead Senior Care's Hogan said.

The industry argues that if they're forced to pay minimum wage and overtime, they'll have to restrict workers' hours to 40 hours a week or less. That could actually lead to a reduction in pay for live-in workers. They also fiercely dispute the government's claim that it would only cost an extra $166 per worker a year to comply with federal minimum wage and overtime regulations.

"It's going to increase costs, and it's going to make things more difficult at all levels," said Val Halamandaris, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. "A lot of these individuals could end up losing these jobs."

- CNNMoney video producer Jordan Malter and CNN correspondent Zain Asher contributed to this report.