Social Assistance: NAICS 624

About the Social Assistance subsector

The social assistance subsector is part of the health care and social assistance sector.

Industries in the Social Assistance subsector provide a wide variety of social assistance services directly to their clients. These services do not include residential or accommodation services, except on a short stay basis.

North American Industry Classification System

The social assistance subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Individual and Family Services: NAICS 6241
  • Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services: NAICS 6242
  • Vocational Rehabilitation Services: NAICS 6243
  • Child Day Care Services: NAICS 6244

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in social assistance. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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2,541.1 2,540.1 (P) 2,540.6 (P) 2,541.9

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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2,214.4 2,200.5 (P) 2,206.1  

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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7.1% 7.3% 6.5% 7.4%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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19 12 10 7

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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1,553 744 627 442

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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3 159 (P) 44 (P) 11

Separations

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455 19,204 (P) 4,241 (P) 1,947

Initial claimants

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385 18,386 (P) 3,625 (P) 1,819

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Child care workers

261,110

Child, family, and school social workers

76,340

Personal and home care aides

273,630

Social and community service managers

40,520

Social and human service assistants

119,450

Note: These employment estimates include employment in both the private-sector and government.

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for social assistance.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in social assistance.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2008
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$12.65 $12.68 $12.75 (P) $12.73

Average weekly hours

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30.5 29.7 29.5 (P) 30.3

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Child care workers

$8.49 $8.95 $17,660 $18,610

Child, family, and school social workers

$16.33 $17.37 $33,970 $36,120

Personal and home care aides

$9.74 $9.89 $20,270 $20,580

Social and community service managers

$24.71 $27.42 $51,400 $57,040

Social and human service assistants

$12.23 $12.86 $25,430 $26,740

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in social assistance. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

22 26 34 23

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

3.9 4.3 3.9 3.9

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

2.1 2.2 1.9 1.9

Cases involving days away from work

1.2 1.3 1.2 1.3

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.8 0.9 0.8 0.6

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in social assistance.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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155,798 (P) 159,148 (P) 161,989 (P) 164,180

Local government

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2,531 (P) 2,579 (P) 2,586 (P) 2,590

State government

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2,603 (P) 2,735 (P) 2,730 (P) 2,743

Federal government

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186 (P) 188 (P) 187 (P) 187

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

See child day care services and social assistance, except child day care in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: May 01, 2009