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Healthcare Social Workers

Community and Social Service · SOC 21-1022

9.2% AI Exposure — Medium
$67,880
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
22,200
Proj. Annual Openings
187,630
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+1.2%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
91/100
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 21-1022 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
9.2%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
58/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$67,880
H-1B offered wage $73,986; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
22,200
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +7.7%.
Observed/proxy demand
101
FY2025 certified LCAs; 40,890 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Social PerceptivenessSpeakingService OrientationReading ComprehensionActive Listening
  • 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 Exposure9.2%
AI Resiliency91/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure4.1%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

43.2%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic9.2%
AI capability · OpenAI34.4%
AI ability · AIOE85.9%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne0.4%

AI could do ~34.4% of this role but only ~9.2% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Social Perceptiveness
2.Speaking
3.Service Orientation
4.Reading Comprehension
5.Active Listening

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.

809
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
101
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$73,986
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#197 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.

Common titles: Clinical Social Worker, Hospice Social Worker, LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker), Medical Social Worker, Nephrology Social Worker, Oncology Social Worker

Representative Tasks

  • Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
  • Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
  • Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
  • Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
  • Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Intervene in crisis situations to assist clients.
  • Collaborate with other professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments.
  • Confer with clients to discuss treatment plans or progress.
  • Counsel clients or patients regarding personal issues.
  • Refer clients to community or social service programs.

Tools & Technologies

Zoom · hotMEDITECH software · hotMicrosoft Office software · hotGoogle MeetAdobe PageMakerCommand Systems ComServeCorel WordPerfect Office SuiteDatabase softwareHealthcare common procedure coding system HCPCSMedical procedure coding 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 21-1022: 2019 — employment: 174,890, median wage: $56,750; 2020 — employment: 176,110, median wage: $57,630; 2021 — employment: 173,860, median wage: $60,840; 2022 — employment: 182,420, median wage: $60,280; 2023 — employment: 185,020, median wage: $62,940; 2025 — employment: 187,630, median wage: $67,880.

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

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure9.2%4.1%
OutlookBright ↗75% Bright
Median Salary$67,880N/A
AI Resiliency91/100N/A