Social Assistance: NAICS 624

About the Social Assistance subsector

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

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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		4,848.5	4,870.7	(p)4,867.9	(p)4,886.6
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees		4,226.3	4,245.8	(p)4,275.1
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		5.2%	4.8%	5.3%	3.3%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2023
Child care workers	290,300
Child, family, and school social workers	103,200
Personal and home care aides	1,964,740
Social and community service managers	70,240
Social and human service assistants	167,860
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	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$22.61	$22.64	$23.01	(p)$22.92
Average weekly hours		30.6	30.6	31.1	(p)30.7
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$20.50	$20.47	$20.88	(p)$20.77
Average weekly hours		29.5	29.4	29.9	(p)29.6
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Child care workers	14.13	14.79	29,390	30,750
Child, family, and school social workers	22.74	24.18	47,300	50,290
Personal and home care aides	16.12	15.96	33,530	33,200
Social and community service managers	34.59	36.40	71,940	75,720
Social and human service assistants	19.01	20.16	39,550	41,940

(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	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	2.3
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.3
Cases involving days away from work	0.9
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	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry		1,073,356	1,105,562	(p)1,146,380	(p)1,180,606
Local government		2,803	2,804	(p)2,840	(p)2,850
State government		2,599	2,609	(p)2,544	(p)2,563
Federal government		344	352	(p)347	(p)350
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.

Data series	Back data	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total factor productivity (TFP)		-1.5	-2.3	3.1	-0.8
Output		-1.7	5.6	1.0	5.8
Combined inputs		-0.1	8.1	-2.0	6.7
Capital input		4.6	2.1	0.5	-0.1
Labor input		-4.0	6.6	2.8	5.5
Labor productivity, output per hour		4.4	-1.0	-1.6	0.1

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: December 13, 2024