Human Services Workers

Employment for human services workers will grow much faster than the average through 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The best opportunities will be in programs for the elderly, residential care facilities, and private social service agencies, which include such services as adult daycare and meal delivery programs. Job growth will also occur in child and family services, investigating child abuse and finding homes for children with foster families. Additionally, demand should increase for human services workers who work in treatment programs or work with people with addictions.

New ideas in treating people with disabilities or mental illness also influence employment growth in group homes and residential care facilities. Public concern for the homeless—many of whom are former mental health patients who were released under service reductions in the 1980s and 1990s—as well as for troubled teenagers, and those with substance abuse problems, is likely to bring about new community-based programs and group residences.

Job prospects in public agencies are not as bright as they once were because of fiscal policies that tighten eligibility requirements for federal welfare and other payments. State and local governments are expected to remain major employers, however, as the burden of providing social services such as welfare, child support, and nutrition programs is shifted from the federal government to the state and local level. In larger cities, such as New York or Washington, D.C., jobs in the public sector will be more plentiful than in smaller cities because of the higher demand. There is also a higher burnout rate in the larger cities, resulting in more job opportunities as people vacate their positions for other careers.