WHY IS EVERY PASSING YEAR ELEVATING THE DEMAND OF SOCIAL WORKERS?

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Social work is a gratifying career for people who want to make a difference. The diversity and uniqueness make it one of the best jobs in the world. This profession has been making significant contributions to the world for a long time. Apart from all the benefits, social work is experiencing a critical shortage of professionals, making things worse. Indeed, you can still find professionals in hospitals and healthcare departments.

Several rural areas and states are reporting a significant gap between the supply and demand of necessities. It might not sound like good news, but this shortage will continue in the upcoming years. Now every other healthcare sector is looking for experienced and qualified social workers to fulfill the demands. With the world facing another pandemic with an increase in aging boomers, there is a dire need for professionals. Social workers barely get encouraged for their prominent roles in society. However, this shortage is elevating its importance in the community. With that said, let’s discuss why every passing year is promoting the demand for social workers.

• EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

One element that contributes to the increasing demand for social work is strict education requirements. Unlike other careers, social work is a dynamic career with relatively higher educational needs before entering the profession. Since social workers will empower healthy growth in vulnerable populations, the relevant educational background is essential. Despite the promising outlook, many people begin working alongside enrolling in a social work degree program for an enhanced profile.

Social work is a challenging career, where you will be required to strive to make people’s lives better. Social workers are responsible for listening to people’s problems and then addressing proper solutions to them. In this case, there is a tough tradeoff for money to achieve education to enter the career.

• AGING POPULATION AND PANDEMICS

The world is facing another severe challenge of pandemic and aging population, which puts a strain on the social workers. The world’s population is aging quickly, and something needs to get done about it. We can not just stop the aging process; however, we must cope with the challenges that arise with it. According to research, there were 43 million people who hit the age of 65 in 2012. However, the experts suggest that these figures may grow up to 84 million in 2050. This dramatic increase is not something to get ignored.

The latest COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unprecedented challenges to the social workers to adjust to health and economic dimensions. They are indeed responsible for dealing in such situations, but they were not ready for the sudden challenge like every other sector. Social workers are dealing with social inequality as well as economic instability in people caused by the pandemic. However, there is a massive gap between the available resources and the demand in these crises.

Most of the elderly group has medical or mental health conditions. In this case, they require special attention from the government or healthcare groups. Moreover, not everyone relies on family members for physical and mental care. The only solution to these problems is through social workers who can help these gray waves with dementia and depression issues.

• UNBALANCED DISTRIBUTION IN STATES

States are experiencing one of the most impending shortages in the social work sectors, and it is going to increase every year. The main reason behind this is the unbalanced distribution of social workers in the states. Most of the social workers tend to work in the healthcare departments. Not just that, but they mostly work in urban areas of the states. On the other side, the rural areas experience the shortages of social workers, which results in higher demands and vacancy rates. This unsustainable distribution is a severe problem for the upcoming years. All state authorities must immediately fill these demand gaps by offering social worker incentives, so more people join the career.

• SOCIAL WORKERS TRAINING

Despite the shortfall, many authorities are struggling to fill the need for social workers. These authorities are overlooking the aspect to attract the students. The essential facts to attract students involve proper training facilities and experienced professionals for institutional support. Without these elements, no students will join the career even with the rising shortfall.

The schools and departments of social work are also running out of professional trainees. These factors are leading to severe complications to meet the rising demands of the industry each year.

• RISE IN HOMELESSNESS AND INCARCERATION

The number of public homeless people has increased by up to 15% in recent years. Despite the governmental and media struggles, these problems never got resolved. More than half a million people are homeless in the United States. The homelessness involves its issues and complications, which are affecting people in different ways. Many people suffer severe mental and addiction problems, which leads to incarceration.

The US records one of the top countries to report the incarceration rates. In this case, many policies are seeking help from social workers for interventions against these problems. Social workers can also help as critical advocates in prisons for rehabilitation and family services.

• CHANGING THE NATURE OF WORK

Social workers are an essential group of individuals that help societies and define proper solutions to the problems. However, the nature of social work is evolving at a significant rate. As the world embrace technology in multiple sectors, social workers are also required to adapt to the latest practices. In this case, there is a massive mismatch in the demand of professionals for social workers.

FINAL WORDS

Indeed, Social workers perform in a broad range of situations. Whether the world faces pandemics or sudden booms in retiring people, social workers support each group. However, the group is always overlooked and underpaid regardless of its importance. The authorities must monitor these looming demands of social workers and fill the gaps for professional social workers.

Some professions are far more demanding then others, but there rewards worth the devotion!