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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, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

4,671.0 4,695.2 (p)4,717.8 (p)4,741.8

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees

4,092.9 4,096.7 (p)4,089.7  

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.3% 4.6% 5.3% 4.1%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Child care workers

267,030

Child, family, and school social workers

98,790

Personal and home care aides

1,865,460

Social and community service managers

65,810

Social and human service assistants

166,000

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

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage 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 are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in social assistance.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$21.98 $21.95 $22.09 (p)$22.38

Average weekly hours

31.2 30.7 30.7 (p)30.4

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$20.01 $20.03 $20.10 (p)$20.33

Average weekly hours

30.0 29.4 29.5 (p)29.2

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Child care workers

13.32 13.55 27,710 28,190

Child, family, and school social workers

21.85 23.15 45,460 48,150

Personal and home care aides

14.39 14.88 29,930 30,940

Social and community service managers

31.09 34.51 64,670 71,780

Social and human service assistants

18.10 18.93 37,640 39,370

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage 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 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

34   33 22

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

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

Total recordable cases

2.5

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

1.5

Cases involving days away from work

1.2

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.3

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(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
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

1,089,002 (p)1,124,058 (p)1,092,988 (p)1,106,390

Local government

2,784 (p)2,787 (p)2,785 (p)2,811

State government

2,665 (p)2,679 (p)2,682 (p)2,700

Federal government

357 (p)354 (p)352 (p)345

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024