Careers

Employment Opportunities Grow
“The BSW degree prepares graduates for generalist social work practice in a variety of agencies.  Our current graduates are employed as case managers working with persons with persistent mental illness and developmental disabilities, family support workers in child welfare agencies, advocates in domestic violence shelters, social workers in agencies serving older people, and a variety of other settings,” commented Dr. Katharine V. Byers, Director of the Bloomington BSW Program.  She added that the majority of graduates do eventually complete a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree in order to gain more specialized knowledge to serve a particular group of people.

According to the most recent edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the U.S. Department of Labor, “employment of social workers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2010. The elderly population is increasing rapidly, creating greater demand for health and social services, resulting in particularly rapid job growth among gerontology social workers….In addition, continuing concern about crime, juvenile delinquency, and services for the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, the physically disabled, AIDS patients, and individuals and families in crisis will spur demand for social workers.”  Employment opportunities are also expected to increase in health care agencies and those serving families at risk of child abuse and neglect.  Increased need for social workers in the fields of addictions and mental health will continue.  Employment is expected to be more competitive in urban areas with significant needs for qualified professionals persisting in many rural communities.

Projections are that there will be over 676,000 social work positions by the year 2005, a 40% increase over employment figures in 1997.  Many of these new positions will be in case management roles to work with people who have disabilities or long-term mental illness. Such case management positions are ideally filled by BSW graduates. According to a study conducted by the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter (2002), the mean full time income for social workers with a BSW is $29,286, and for those with an MSW, $49,830. The biggest positive influences on salary are level of education and years of experience.

For more information about social work roles and opportunities, a number of websites are useful:

National Association of Social Workers includes information about the professional association for social workers, membership, job opportunities, publications, and professional news as well as links to social work practice and licensing.

Council on Social Work Education, the national accrediting body for social work programs includes frequently asked questions about social work education, the new Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards that guides social work education, publications, and links to a wide variety of social work professional organizations.

The New Social Worker Online, a website for The New Social Worker magazine, includes a message board, chat room, job listings, articles from past issues, and links to other social work sites.

Indiana Health Professions Bureau, the licensing board for the social work profession.

Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors, Inc., an group of BSW program directors, faculty, and others focusing on excellence in baccalaureate social work education.