Human Services
About the Industry
Careers in the human services cluster involve helping people with a variety of needs, such as counseling and fitness training. Nearly all of the community and social service occupations and many of the personal care and service occupations in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) are assigned to this cluster.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted about 5 million jobs in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) occupations that are assigned to the human services cluster. Median annual wages for these occupations varied. For example, the median annual wage for shampooers was $18,510, and the wage for industrial-organizational psychologists was $80,330.
Occupations in the human services cluster typically require many different levels of education and training, with specific designations ranging from less than a high school diploma and short-term on-the-job training for occupations such as laundry and dry-cleaning workers to a doctoral or professional degree and an internship or residency for clinical, counseling, and school psychologists.
BLS projects occupations assigned to the personal care services pathway to make up nearly half of the projected job openings in the human services cluster. The occupation projected to have the most job openings in the cluster is personal care aides.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Education in the Northland
Arts & Communication
11 programsBusiness, Management, & Technology
11 programsIndustrial & Engineering Technology
18 programsHealth Services
10 programsHuman Services
18 programsNatural Resources & Agriculture
3 programsWorkforce & Economic Development
12 programsDegrees & Disciplines
A.A.S. to Bachelor of Applied Science
12 emphasis areas20 programs35 programs19 programsComputer Science & Information Systems
27 programs43 programs18 programs35 programs28 programsLanguage, Literature, & Writing
12 programs12 programs53 programsCompanies in the Northland
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