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Social Worker, Child, Family, and School
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| Related Jobs |  | Counselor, Mental Health, Psychologist, Counseling, Aide, Psychiatric, Social Worker, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Technician, Psychiatric, Counselor, Rehabilitation |
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| Job Outlook | | Competition for social worker jobs is expected in cities, where demand for services often is highest and training programs for social workers are prevalent. However, opportunities should be good in rural areas, which often find it difficult to attract and retain qualified staff. Employment of social workers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2016.
Employment of social workers in private social service agencies also will increase. However, agencies increasingly will restructure services and hire more lower paid social and human service assistants instead of social workers. Employment in State and local government agencies may grow somewhat in response to increasing needs for public welfare, family services, and child protection services; however, many of these services will be contracted out to private agencies. Employment levels in public and private social services agencies may fluctuate, depending on need and government funding levels.
Employment of school social workers also is expected to grow as expanded efforts to respond to rising student enrollments and continued emphasis on integrating disabled children into the general school population lead to more jobs. There could be competition for school social work jobs in some areas because of the limited number of openings. The availability of Federal, State and local funding will be a major factor in determining the actual job growth in schools.
Social workers held about 595,000 jobs in 2006. About 5 out of 10 jobs were in health care and social assistance industries, as well as State and local government agencies, primarily in departments of health and human services. Although most social workers are employed in cities or suburbs, some work in rural areas, child, family and school social workers number 282,000. |
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| More Information | | Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, National Association of Social Workers |
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| References | | Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, Social Workers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm
O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at
http://online.onetcenter.org/link/details/21-1021.00#menu |
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