title: Social work labor market: a first look.
abstract: Virtually no literature exists on the labor market for social workers. Fragmentary evidence suggests that this market is highly segmented by education; that many people who do not have social work degrees work in social work jobs, at least at the lower levels; that people who want to be social workers have such a strong commitment to the career of social work that relative wages make relatively little difference to their career decisions; and that employers often hire applicants without degrees for social work jobs. These factors tend to depress wages for social workers. Suggestions are made for a research and data collection program to make possible a definitive analysis of the social work labor market.
authors.affiliation: ICF Consulting, Fairfax, VA 22031, USA. mbarth@icfconsulting.com
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Barth
mesh_terms: D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012947:Social Work / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce