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Child, Family, and School Social Workers

Community and Social Service · SOC 21-1021

0.7% AI Exposure — Low
$59,550
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
36,900
Proj. Annual Openings
392,550
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+3.1%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
99/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 21-1021 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
0.7%
Low · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
55/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$59,550
H-1B offered wage $56,255; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
36,900
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +3.4%.
Observed/proxy demand
78
FY2025 certified LCAs; 68,504 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingSocial PerceptivenessReading Comprehension
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure0.7%
AI Resiliency99/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure4.1%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

35.7%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0.7%
AI capability · OpenAI24.3%
AI ability · AIOE82.1%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne2.8%

AI could do ~24.3% of this role but only ~0.7% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Active Listening
2.Speaking
3.Critical Thinking
4.Social Perceptiveness
5.Reading Comprehension

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

540
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
78
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$56,255
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#221 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.

Common titles: Adoption Social Worker, Case Manager, Case Worker, Child Protective Services Social Worker (CPS Social Worker), Family Protection Specialist, Family Resource Coordinator

Representative Tasks

  • Maintain case history records and prepare reports.
  • Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.
  • Serve as liaisons between students, homes, schools, family services, child guidance clinics, courts, protective services, doctors, and other contacts to help children who face problems, such as disabilities, abuse, or poverty.
  • Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.
  • Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Develop treatment plans for patients or clients.
  • Maintain client records.
  • Write reports or evaluations.
  • Advise others on healthcare matters.
  • Counsel family members of clients or patients.

Tools & Technologies

Microsoft Excel · hotMicrosoft Outlook · hotMicrosoft Access · hotEasyCBMPatient electronic medical record EMR softwareStudent information systems SIS software

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

12
Occupations Shown
5.2%
Avg AI Exposure
9
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 21-1021: 2019 — employment: 327,710, median wage: $47,390; 2020 — employment: 328,120, median wage: $48,430; 2021 — employment: 340,050, median wage: $49,150; 2022 — employment: 344,770, median wage: $50,820; 2023 — employment: 352,160, median wage: $53,940; 2025 — employment: 392,550, median wage: $59,550.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure0.7%4.1%
OutlookBright ↗75% Bright
Median Salary$59,550N/A
AI Resiliency99/100N/A