Social Services
Overview
Social services cover a wide array of service organizations (public, for-profit private, and non-profit private), including institutions providing welfare payments, individual and family social services, job training and vocational rehabilitation services, child day care services, residential care, and other social services (such as advocacy groups, community action and development groups, and councils for social agencies).
Individual and family social services include family counseling and welfare services. Since 1980, the number of people on welfare has surged, and annual Federal government expenditures have more than quadrupled to over $140 billion, resulting in a strained financial system. Single mothers accounted for roughly half of this increase, and many of them are teenagers. Given projected numbers of recipients, expected available financial resources, and the political environment for reform of public assistance programs, any workable future solution will require that some kind of work be done in exchange for most benefits.
Job-training vocational rehabilitation services include manpower training and vocational rehabilitation and habilitation services for the unemployed, handicapped, and disadvantaged (related to lack of job skills, education, or experience). Job retraining will continue to require substantial resources since the technical skills required for success in the job market are rapidly changing. Even those remaining on the job will need continuous training in order to keep their skills up to date. As competition for highly trained professional and technical workers is high, firms that don't provide continuous training or otherwise keep employment attractive will lose their employees to other competitors.
Over the past two decades, there has been growing demand for child day care services. Currently there are roughly 96,000 licensed child care centers and nearly 300,000 licensed family child care providers in the United States. The Federal government supports child care directly with approximately $2 billion in funding for services and indirectly with $2.5 billion through tax relief with the Dependent Care Tax Credit. In addition, several states offer tax credits for child care. Besides government funding and employer-provided day care, the demand for these services is largely demographic. Although an increase in the population of children is the most obvious factor, the proportion of working mothers has dramatically increased during the last twenty years.
Residential care includes personal care for children and the elderly where intensive care is not a major element. Rising demand for these services has squeezed budget-constrained government facilities at the same time that private (both for-profit and non-profit) are doing reasonably well. Demand for residential care for senior citizens will continue to grow modestly over the next decade as the percentage of the population over seventy years remains relatively unchanged.
Finally, other kinds of social services include community action, advocacy groups, anti-poverty boards, social agency boards, and regional planning organizations. Largely non-profit, the fund-raising efforts of this segment have been hindered by scandals over the misuse of funds and concerns over political affiliation. Consequently, this segment has been one of the slowest growing areas of social services, growing by less than 6 percent per year in current-dollar terms over the last ten years.
U.S. Social Services Receipts, 1986-1998 (Millions of 1998
dollars)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
For more detail of above graphic
Current Status
The national social services industry has enjoyed very rapid growth during the last two decades. With the exception of other social services (e.g., community action and advocacy groups), demand for social services has surged in recent years. The number of people on public assistance continues to grow; success in the job market requires increased resources for job-training and vocational rehabilitation; growth in job holders among mothers of young children has underscored the increased need for child day care services; and growth in the proportion of the elderly has propelled demand for residential care. As a result, social services has become one of the fastest growing industries in terms of employment. Between 1981 and 1997, private employment in social services more than doubled to 2.6 million workers.
In Washington, private social services employment nearly tripled between 1983 and 1998 to 58,900 workers. With an average growth rate of 8 percent per year since 1981, social services has become one of the fastest growing industries within the state. Similar to the national industry, all social services segments except other social services experienced robust growth rates.
Washington Social Services Establishments (Private), 1981-1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
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Employment in Washington Social Services Industry, 1981-1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
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Annual Employment Change in Washington Total Nonfarm, Total
Services, & Social Services, 1981-1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
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Based on sizeable employment gains since 1990, individual and family services is now the largest social services segment in Washington. Nearly half of all the employment growth in social services during this period occurred in individual and family services.
Share of Total Private Employment in Social Services, 1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
For more detail of above graphic
In general, private social services is a low-wage industry. Average covered wages for private social services workers was $16,052 in 1998, among the lowest in the state. There is a significant earnings differential between public and private social services workers. Private sector workers earn less than half of their comparable public sector workers earn. In 1998, public social services workers had average covered wages of $31,241. Whereas, the average nonfarm and services wage and salary workers saw real improvement in their annual wages between 1981 and 1998, many social services workers saw their annual wages decline in real terms during the period.
Table 1
Real Average Wages for Washington Social Services Workers,
1981-1998 (1998 dollars)
Sources: Washington Employment Security Department,
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
| Sector | 1981 |
1983 |
1985 |
1987 |
1989 |
1991 |
1993 |
1995 |
1997 |
1998 |
| Private social services | ||||||||||
$14,260 |
$14,060 |
$13,730 |
$13,793 |
$13,861 |
$14,854 |
$14,584 |
$14,781 |
$15,500 |
$16,052 |
|
| Public social services | ||||||||||
$27,005 |
$25,649 |
$26,293 |
$26,414 |
$26,560 |
$29,137 |
$30,948 |
$30,398 |
$30,475 |
$31,241 |
|
| Individual & Fam. Services (private) | ||||||||||
$16,731 |
$16,838 |
$16,311 |
$17,275 |
$16,178 |
$16,934 |
$14,893 |
$15,133 |
$15,813 |
$16,602 |
|
| Job Training & Rel. Services (private) | ||||||||||
$14,215 |
$14,090 |
$13,831 |
$14,498 |
$14,974 |
$16,215 |
$16,935 |
$16,340 |
$18,762 |
$19,452 |
|
| Child Care (private) | ||||||||||
$10,126 |
$9,366 |
$9,158 |
$9,082 |
$9,272 |
$10,044 |
$10,522 |
$11,416 |
$11,690 |
$12,126 |
|
| Residential Care (private) | ||||||||||
$14,367 |
$14,215 |
$14,573 |
$14,566 |
$14,684 |
$15,476 |
$15,816 |
$15,561 |
$15,683 |
$15,960 |
|
| Other social services (private) | ||||||||||
$16,922 |
$17,316 |
$16,186 |
$16,490 |
$18,716 |
$19,191 |
$19,182 |
$19,735 |
$20,628 |
$21,980 |
|
| Total social services | ||||||||||
$18,392 |
$18,362 |
$17,966 |
$17,505 |
$17,137 |
$17,926 |
$17,892 |
$17,541 |
$17,658 |
$18,200 |
|
| Total services, private | ||||||||||
$22,525 |
$21,216 |
$20,583 |
$21,493 |
$21,592 |
$23,948 |
$24,908 |
$26,490 |
$30,653 |
$35,244 |
|
| Total nonfarm | ||||||||||
$28,783 |
$27,789 |
$27,313 |
$27,304 |
$27,167 |
$27,928 |
$28,575 |
$29,046 |
$31,504 |
$33,922 |
|
In terms of hourly wage rates, more than three-fifths of all private social services workers earn less than $10 per hour, compared with the rest of the state where roughly one-third earn less than $10 per hour.
Hourly Wage Rates of Social Services Wage & Salary Workers,
1997
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
For more detail of above graphic
The labor force in the social services sector is dominated by service workers. Common social services occupations within the services group include child care workers, personal and home health aides, nursing aides, institutional cooks and food preparation workers, and recreation attendants. Common professional and technical occupations in social services include residential counselors, social workers, human services workers, teachers and instructors, registered nurses, and vocational and educational counselors.
Table 2
Occupational Profile of Social Services in Washington, 1998 and
2008
Source: Washington Employment Security Department
Estimated 1998 |
Projected 2008 |
|||
| Social Services, SIC 83 |
Estimated Employment |
Percent of Total Employment |
Projected Employment |
Percent of Total Employment |
| Managerial & administrative | 5,819 |
9.6% |
8,039 |
9.7% |
| Professional, paraprofessional & technical | 16,419 |
27.1% |
23,102 |
27.8% |
| Sales & related occupations | 781 |
1.3% |
1,065 |
1.3% |
| Clerical & administrative support | 7,571 |
12.5% |
8,724 |
10.5% |
| Service occupations | 18,129 |
29.9% |
26,845 |
32.3% |
| Production, operating & maintenance | 710 |
1.2% |
984 |
1.2% |
| Operators, helpers & laborers | 1,534 |
2.5% |
1,997 |
2.4% |
| Undefined occupations | 9,610 |
15.9% |
12,336 |
14.9% |
| TOTAL | 60,573 |
100.0% |
83,092 |
100.0% |
Social Services Contribution to the
Washington Economy
In general, social services are not viewed as an "export" industry insofar that it is responsible for the inflow of wealth from outside the state. Most of these social services, like individual and family social services, job-training, and child day care are local-serving in its population base. However, residential care and other social services may have an "export" component in attracting nursing home patients from other states or obtaining substantial outside income for other social services (e.g., community action and advocacy groups). In determining the orientation of social services, one can look at the proportion of a state's social services employment to determine if there is surplus labor employed in producing the service. A commonly used measure for social services export is a simple index of employment concentration which looks at an industry's share of total employment in a state. This share is put into index form by dividing by the industry's share of total employment in the nation. An index number greater than 1.0 suggests that the state produces a surplus in the social services which may be exported elsewhere. Accordingly, an index number of 1.0 would indicate little or no trade while an index number less than 1.0 would suggest that the state imports the service. As Figure 7 indicates, social services in Washington may have an export component. Other factors must be considered, for instance, the state's relative share of people in poverty. A higher poverty rate may imply increased federal monies and additional social services employment.
Index of Concentration for Social Services, 1975-1997
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
For more detail of above graphic
Outlook
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected social services employment through 2005 is a total gain of 1.5 million jobs, making the industry among the fastest growing industries into the next century. In Washington State, the Employment Security Department and Office of Financial Management project an average annual growth rate of 3.5 percent for the social services industry for the first decade of the next century (2000-2010); residential care, with 4.9 percent annual growth, is projected to lead all segments. For the forecast period 2010-2020, growth in social services employment is expected to taper off, with an average annual rate of 2.6 percent. Nonfarm employment in Washington is expected to grow 1.6 percent on an annual basis.
Projected Annual Employment Growth in Washington Social
Services,
1995-2020
Sources: Washington Office of Financial Management,
Washington Employment Security
Department
