Discussion 5

Fact Sheet 2013

SOCIAL SERVICE WORKERS: AN OCCUPATIONAL OVERVIEW

Social service workers serve on the front lines of our communities, providing public programs and much needed social assistance. They work in a variety of settings, including mental health clinics, schools, community centers, hospitals, in private practice, and in domestic settings.

This factsheet will outline general employment facts about social service workers including projected occupational growth, typical education requirements, and salaries in social service occupations, the benefits of a union for social service workers, diversity in social service work, and occupational challenges facing social service professionals.

Basic Employment Data  In 2012, there were 1,882,080 community and social service workers in the U.S., however

this number is down from 2010 when there were 1,901,180 workers in the field. This is a broad occupational category, which includes health educators, mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists, probation officers and correctional treatment specialists, rehabilitation counselors, school and career counselors, social and human service assistants, social workers, and substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.1

 Counseling is an essential social service for many individuals and families. Counselors work in schools, community centers, government agencies, and private practices, among other settings. In 2012, there were 237,480 educational, vocational, and school counselors; 104,070 rehabilitation counselors; 115,080 mental health counselors; and 80,130 substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.2

 Social workers may work in private practice, behavioral health clinics, hospitals, social service agencies, or nursing homes. In 2012, there were 273,920 child, family, and school social workers; 140,000 health care social workers, and 109,920 mental health and substance abuse social workers.3

 Social service workers also work in administrative and program assistance, offender rehabilitation, and in personal and family therapy. In 2012, there were 351,400 social and human service assistants; 86,780 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists; and 34,270 marriage and family therapists.4

 While the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected a 24 percent growth rate for this field from 2010-2020, early indications suggest that this is likely an overestimate.5 This is likely because projections cannot anticipate severe economic events such as a recession or sequestration. While such events affect job growth in all sectors, social services are often amongst the first to see their budgets cut, even as demand increases.6

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 Projections indicated that between 2010 and 2020, employment in mental health counseling and health care social work would increase by 37 percent and 34 percent, respectively, or approximately four percent a year. However, job growth in a number of social service fields has stagnated, been slower than expected or, in some cases, declined.7

Education & Salaries Social service workers are generally well educated, but modestly compensated professionals. In most states, social service workers like counselors, social workers, and therapists must earn additional licenses through examinations and field experience.

 Bachelor’s degree recipients in public administration and social services numbered 26,774 in the 2010-2011 school year, an increase of 7,327 from 2000-2001. Master’s and doctoral graduates in public administration and social services numbered 39,488 for 2010-2011, an increase of over 12,000 from a decade earlier.8

 Social workers must go through extensive training and education to work in the field. Professional social workers must have a post-secondary degree in social work and complete supervised fieldwork before entering the workforce. More advanced clinical work, therapy, research, or teaching, all require a Master’s or doctoral degree.9

 All but one state requires licensing of counselors, a process that typically requires a Master’s degree in counseling, extensive practical training and experience, and passage of a licensing exam, along with continuing education requirements once in the field.10

 Social and Human Service Assistant occupations do not always require post-secondary degrees, although increasingly, employers are seeking individuals with advanced education or relevant work experience.11

 Salaries for social service workers tend to fall significantly below those of similarly educated professionals. For instance, in 2012, the median annual salary for registered nurses was $65,470 and the median annual salary for physician assistants was $90,930, while professionals in community and social service occupations earned a median income of $40,400.12

 For counselors, median earnings ranged from $33,880 for rehabilitation counselors to $53,610 for educational, guidance, school, and vocational counselors. The top-paying employers of counselors were business, professional, labor, political, and similar organizations, the federal government, and elementary and secondary schools.13

 In 2012, the median annual earnings for social workers ranged from $39,980 for mental health and substance abuse social workers to $54,560 for social workers in federal, state, and local government, advocacy organizations, and community groups. Government, school, and hospital positions are typically the best-paying jobs for all types of social workers, while individual and family services often have lower wages.14

 Social and human service assistants reported a median annual salary in 2012 of $28,850. Government positions typically had the highest salaries, with a mean income of $43,670 for federal government employees, while those working in residential mental health and substance abuse facilities received the lowest median annual salaries, averaging $25,950.15

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Union Benefits  Social service workers have above average union membership. In 2012, 20.3 percent of

social workers, 20.2 percent of counselors, and 21.8 percent of other community and social service specialists were union members.16  In 2012, social workers represented by unions reported median weekly earnings that were 30 percent higher than those reported by non- union social workers. For counselors, this earnings differential was as high as 50.1 percent. The 2012 median weekly earnings of other community and social service specialists averaged 58 percent higher for those represented by a union

than for those who were not.17  Unions are also important advocates for social workers in cases where understaffing or

insufficient safety and security precautions lead to an unsafe work environment.  Unions, like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), work nationally on social workers’

behalf. AFT advocates strengthening Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) protections to ensure social workers and other public employees have safe working environments, reversing privatizing and contracting out public services, and increasing federal funding for public services.18

 At the state level, unions fight abusive and anti-worker legislation. From Wisconsin to Ohio to Florida, unions continue to fight budget cuts, privatization schemes, and anti-collective bargaining measures.

 Nationally, unions work to preserve important public programs. AFT, the AFL-CIO, and many other unions support the American Jobs Act, a $447 billion bill proposed by President Obama that would repair schools, road, bridges, and other public works, as well as preserve the jobs of over 300,000 public workers.19

Women, Minorities, and Social Service Work  Most workers in social service occupations are women, accounting for 80.6 percent of social

workers, 69.3 percent of counselors, and 77.1 percent of social and human service assistants.20 Women account for nearly 47 percent of the overall labor force.21

$- $200 $400 $600 $800

$1,000 $1,200 $1,400

Counselors Social Workers Other community and social service

specialists

Median Weekly Earnings, 2012 source: Barry T. Birch and David A. Macpherson, Union Membership

and Earnings: Compilations from the Current Population Survey, 2013ed

Union Non-union

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 In 2011 men working as counselors reported median weekly earnings that were 8.1 percent more than women in the same field, and male social workers earned 13 percent more than female social workers. By 2012, the gap in median earnings had all but disappeared. Median weekly earnings for men in social work were 1.3 percent higher than for women, while in counseling women’s wages outpaced men’s by 2.6 percent.22 However, the cause of this change is difficult to determine, and aggregate numbers do not suggest parity within a given organization.

 The social service workforce is diverse. In 2012, 19.4 percent of counselors, 23 percent of social workers, and 24.4 percent of social and human service assistants were Black or African-American. The same year, 10.7 percent of counselors, 12.6 percent of social workers, and 15.5 percent of social and human service assistants were Hispanic or Latino. 23

 In comparison, Black professionals represent 9.3 percent of the professional workforce and Hispanic professionals only 8.2 percent. Hispanic workers represented 15.4 percent of the total labor force in 2012, and Black workers represented 11.1 percent.24

Challenges for Professionals in the Social Service Occupations Social service workers face numerous challenges related to their chosen occupations.

High student debt coupled with the relatively low salaries of social service workers creates a long-term burden on many professionals. Additionally, social service workers frequently must perform their tasks in high-stress environments and often struggle with workplace safety issues. The recent recession and continuing sequestration make working conditions for social service workers even more precarious as federal, state, and local government budget cuts threaten job security as public need for social services continues to rise.  The high cost of post-secondary education paired with the relatively low salaries for social

work in general, means many of these professionals have large education debts. In 2011, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) reported the average debt for people with Bachelor’s degrees was $18,609. Unsurprisingly, the burden was even larger for advanced degrees, with Master’s graduates reporting an average of $26,777 in education debt and those with a doctorate of social work averaging $32,841.25

 Social services occupations can be emotionally draining. The high-pressure nature of the work, and relatively low wages combined with understaffing can lead to high turnover among social service professionals.26

 Because social service workers often work with mentally and emotionally unstable people, they risk higher incidents of workplace violence. Dwindling services and reduced benefits, and working conditions such as understaffing, working alone, and working late hours, exacerbate this risk. 27

 A 2004 survey found that more than 50 percent of social workers reported personal safety issues; while in only 70 percent of these cases did the individual feel their employers adequately addressed the issue.28

 The NASW found that the most common work-related stressors for social workers were: inadequate time to complete their jobs (31 percent); heavy workloads (25 percent); salary not

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comparable to peers in other jobs (19 percent); overall inadequate compensation (16 percent); and challenging clients (16 percent).29

 Nearly five percent of licensed social workers in the NASW survey indicated that they planned to leave social work but continue to work. These social workers were disproportionally younger professionals with Bachelor’s degrees in their first four years of practice. They cited personal safety issues, low pay, understaffing, and lack of support at their workplace as challenges to doing their job properly.30

 The Administration for Children and Families reports that some jurisdictions face turnover of frontline workers, i.e. those providing direct support services, as high as 90 percent a year. This high rate means those jurisdictions suffer a consistent loss of institutional knowledge, possibly at the expense of high quality service.31

 Since the 2008 recession, state governments have suffered through a persistent economic downturn coupled with shrinking tax revenues. Since the official end of the recession in summer 2009, state and local governments have cut over 600,000 jobs. Many of these cuts target social service agencies and community programs.32

 Budget cuts enacted in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia since 2008 have occurred in all major areas of state services, including health care (31 states), services to the elderly and disabled (29 states and D.C.), K-12 education (34 states and the D.C.), higher education (43 states), and other areas. At the same time, the need for these services did not decline and, in fact, rose as the number of families facing economic difficulties increased.33

 Compounding the loss of revenue in state budgets since the recession are dramatic federal cuts. As sequestration continues, both providers and recipients of social service work will likely face major losses. Mandatory budget cuts will result in both reduced service across the board, particularly for mental and rehabilitation services. Further, cuts to OSHA will mean fewer health and safety inspections and possibly increased workplace safety hazards.34

1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Community and Social Service Occupations,” May 2012. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes210000.htm 2 “Social Workers,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013 ed. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Community-and- Social-Service/Social-workers.htm#tab-6; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Community and Social Service Occupations,” May 2012. 3 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Community and Social Service Occupations,” May 2011. 4 Ibid. 5 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013 ed, “Overview of the 2010–20 Projections,” http://www.bls.gov/ooh/About/Projections-Overview.htm 6 “An examination of California’s safety-net programs and related economic benefits for communities.” County Welfare Directors Association of California and California State Association of Counties. April, 2009. Available at: http://www.cwda.org/uploads/CSAC-CWDA-Joint-Repor0409.pdf 7 “Social Workers”; “Mental Health Counselors,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013 ed. 8 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Tables A38-1 and A-39-1, 2011. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/current_tables.asp 9 “Social Work Profession,” Factsheet, NASW, 2012. http://www.naswdc.org/pressroom/features/general/profession.asp

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10 Ibid. 11 “Social and Human Service Assistants,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013 ed. 12 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Registered Nurses,” May 2012; “Occupational Employment and Wages: Physician Assistants,’ May 2012.; http://www.bls.gov/oes/home.htm 13 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Community and Social Service Occupations,” May 2012. 14 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “May 2012 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States,” March 2012. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#21-0000 15U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages: Social and Human Service Assistants,” May 2012. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211093.htm 16 Barry T. Birch and David A. Macpherson, Union Membership and Earnings: Compilations from the Current Population Survey, 2013ed., (Arlington, VA: Bloomberg BNA, 2013), table 8a. 17 Ibid. 18 “AFT Public Employees”, American Federation of Teachers, 2012. http://www.aft.org/yourwork/pubemps/ 19 “President Obama’s American Jobs Act: Putting Jobs Front and Center,” AFSCME, October 2011. http://www.afscme.org/issues/federal-budget- taxes/resources/document/AFSCME_Fact_Sheet_American_Jobs_Act.pdf 20 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Average 2012, Table 11. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm 21 Ibid. 22 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Average 2012, Table 39. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat39.htm 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 “Letter to James Hyler, U.S. Department of Education.” National Association of Social Workers. NASW, Washington, D.C. September 12, 2012. Available at http://www.naswdc.org/advocacy/letters/2011/110912%20Letter%20to%20James%20Hyler.pdf 26 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008–09 Edition, April 2007 27 Perette Arrington, Stress at work: How do social workers cope? NASW Membership Workforce Study, 2008. http://workforce.socialworkers.org/whatsnew/stress.pdf 28Tracy Whitaker, Toby Weismiller, and Elizabeth Clark, Assuring the Sufficiency of a Frontline Workforce: A National Study of Licensed Social Workers, National Association of Social Workers, March 2006. http://workforce.socialworkers.org/studies/nasw_06_execsummary.pdf 29 Perette Arrington, Stress at work: How do social workers cope? NASW Membership Workforce Study, 2008. 30 Tracy Whitaker, Toby Weismiller, and Elizabeth Clark, Assuring the Sufficiency of a Frontline Workforce: A National Study of Licensed Social Workers, National Association of Social Workers, March 2006. 31 “Worker Turnover.” Administration for Children and Families. Accessed June, 24, 2012. Available at: https://www.childwelfare.gov/management/workforce/retention/turnover.cfm 32 “President Obama’s American Jobs Act: Putting Jobs Front and Center,” AFSCME, October 2011. 33 Nicholas Johnson, Phil Oliff and Erica Williams, “At Least 46 States Have Imposed Cuts That Hurt Vulnerable Residents and the Economy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 9, 2011. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1211 34 Brad Plummer. “Read: The White House explains how the sequester cuts would work.” The Washington Post. Washington, DC. February 8, 2013. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/08/read-the-white-house-explains-how-the-sequester- cuts-would-work/

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For more information on professional and technical workers, check DPE’s website: www.dpeaflcio.org.

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) comprises 20 AFL-CIO unions representing over four million people working in professional and technical occupations. DPE-affiliated unions represent: teachers, college professors, and school administrators; library workers; nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals; engineers, scientists, and IT workers; journalists and writers, broadcast technicians and communications specialists; performing and visual artists; professional athletes; professional firefighters; psychologists, social workers, and many others. DPE was chartered by the AFL-CIO in 1977 in recognition of the rapidly growing professional and technical occupations.

Source: DPE Research Department 815 16th Street, N.W., 7th Floor Washington, DC 20006 Contact: Jennifer Dorning July 2013 (202) 638-0320 extension 114 [email protected]