Learn about the types of people who become social workers. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.


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Employment Type Mix, 2024

85% of social workers work in full-time roles while 15% work part-time.

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Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024

This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a social worker. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.

More women than men are interested in becoming social workers at a ratio of 2.05 to 1.

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Actual Gender Mix, 2024

81% of social workers are female and 19% are male.

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Gender Bias, 2024

This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a social worker and the actual gender mix of people in the career.

If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a social worker and those who end up becoming one.

In this case there are more men interested in becoming a social worker than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.

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Ethnic Mix, 2019

The largest ethnic group of social workers are White, making up 60% of the population. The next highest segments are Black or African American and Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish, making up 14% and 8% respectively.