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Overall, 25.5 percent of employed people had a certification or license in 2015. Certifications and licenses are credentials that show a person has the skill or knowledge to perform a job. Licenses are awarded by a government agency and signal a legal authority to work in an occupation. Certifications are issued by a professional or industry organization, rather than a government agency. People may have more than one certification or license. People with a license may also have a certification. The percentage of workers with certifications or licenses varied by occupation.
Occupation | Percent |
---|---|
Total |
25.5% |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
76.9 |
Legal |
68.1 |
Education, training, and library |
55.5 |
Healthcare support |
51.8 |
Protective service |
40.0 |
Community and social services |
39.7 |
Personal care and service |
31.9 |
Life, physical, and social science |
27.2 |
Architecture and engineering |
26.6 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
25.4 |
Business and financial operations |
23.8 |
Management |
23.3 |
Transportation and material moving |
22.0 |
Construction and extraction |
20.4 |
Sales and related |
16.2 |
Computer and mathematical |
15.8 |
Production |
10.9 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
10.8 |
Office and administrative support |
10.3 |
Food preparation and serving related |
8.2 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
8.0 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
7.9 |
About 3 in 4 workers in healthcare practitioners and technical occupations and about half of workers in healthcare support occupations had a certification or license in 2015. (Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations include nurses, doctors, and physical, occupational, and respiratory therapists. Healthcare support occupations include nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides.) Other occupations with high incidences of certifications or licenses include legal occupations (68.1 percent) and education, training, and library occupations (55.5 percent). In most fields, licenses were much more common than certifications.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see the page about professional certifications and licenses. Additional information is in the Commissioner's Corner blog, "Why This Counts: New Timely Data on Professional Certifications and Licenses."
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Workers in healthcare occupations most likely to have certifications or licenses in 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/workers-in-healthcare-occupations-most-likely-to-have-certifications-or-licenses-in-2015.htm (visited October 31, 2024).