Anyone who has been helped by, or had a family member, friend or loved one helped by human service providers, can attest to the level of care and dedication these workers give on a daily basis. Their impact on millions of people across Massachusetts is unmistakable. But there is another impact they are responsible for that few realize – their economic impact.

There are more than 185,000 human service workers in Massachusetts. They are comparable in size to the state’s telecommunications industry, and, according to 2001 figures, three times the size of the state’s biotechnology sector.

Human service providers generate more than $112 million in state and local taxes, and their spending supports an additional 34,000 jobs for Massachusetts residents.

Further, the human services sector is growing at a rate dwarfing other areas of the Massachusetts economy. Between 1998 and 2003, the human services workforce grew 18 percent. During the same time period, the rest of Massachusetts’ workforce grew 1.7 percent. The health care sector, to which human service workers are closely aligned, grew less than 1 percent.

But while demand for their services is growing and the state’s need for their economic spending is increasing, the human services workforce is facing a crisis. Low pay, high stress and long hours have led to large turnover and vacancies. The median income among human services workers are roughly $9,000 less than their peers in health care and other industries, and direct service workers earn nearly $15,000 less than the same workers in health care.

Complicating matters even further is that demand for jobs in health care is expected to match, or even exceed, human services in the next decade.  The job growth in the industry is predicted to grow by 37.5% from 2004 to 2014.  That will compound the shortage, as competition between these industries for the same small labor pool increases.

Sources: Help Wanted: The Future of the Human Services Workforce in Massachusetts, April 2006; and Help Wanted 2: Recruiting and Retaining the Next Generation of Human Services Workers in Massachusetts.  Produced by the Donahue Institute, University of Massachusetts.  Financial Health of Providers in the Massachusetts Human Service System, commissioned by EOHHS.