Every year we like to take a half-step back and look at the status of the social work profession. How are social workers faring in the workplace? What do future job prospects look like? How’s the pay? Working conditions? What are the main challenges?
Overview
There are more than 650,000 social workers currently working in the United States. They are dispersed as follows:
- State and local government ----------------29%
- Individual and family services--------------18%
- Ambulatory healthcare services------------13%
- Hospitals--------------------------------------11%
- Nursing and residential care---------------- 9%
- All others--------------------------------------20%
Overall employment of social workers is projected to grow 12% from 2017 to 2024 adding another 75,000 jobs. Opportunity from one specialty to another will vary widely.
- Employment of child, family, and school social workers is projected to grow 6% by 2024, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
- However, employment of healthcare social workers is projected to grow 19% by 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. Health care social workers will be needed to help aging populations and their families adjust to new treatments, medications, and lifestyles.
- Employment of mental health and substance abuse social workers is also projected to grow 19% by 2024.
- Candidates with a master’s degree and licensure will experience even greater job prospects.
Pay
The medial annual wage for social workers is $46,690. The lowest 10% earn less than $28,800, and the highest 10% earn more than $78,510. Wages vary by focus area and industry segment as follows:
Focus Area
- Social workers, all other----------------------------------$60,000
- Healthcare social workers--------------------------------$53,760
- Child, family, and school social workers----------------$43,250
- Mental health and substance abuse social workers----$42,700
Industry Segment
- Hospitals-----------------------------$57,650
- State and local government--------$48,100
- Ambulatory healthcare services---$47,130
- Nursing and residential care-------$41,080
- Individual and family services-----$39,260
Challenges
In a recent survey, social workers reported that “moral distress” was emerging as the main challenge they faced. Anguish resulting from the collision between one’s ethics and the demands of the workplace is referred to as moral distress.
“This can happen when longtime employees discover that their organization’s priorities, policies, and protocols have changed in a way that deeply troubles the social worker,” says Dr. Frederic Reamer of the Rhode Island College’s School of Social Work.
Merlinda Weinberg, PhD, of the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia says, “Often structural constraints may stand in the way of behaving according to one’s sense of what is ethical.” Weinberg suspects moral distress is an increasing problem because our society does not necessarily prioritize service to populations in need or “…providing a social safety net for the vulnerable, but instead the emphasis may be on using the values of the marketplace, such as efficiency and the bottom line, as the driving values even in the nonprofit world…this environment has led to reduced resources, and pressure on workers to be more efficient, sometimes at the cost of being effective.”
Summary
For those of us who carefully study social work, it is astounding how the profession has grown over the past twenty years. It appears that we can anticipate a healthy rate of growth and the continued elevation of professional standards into the future.
