Detropia

Detropia: A Film Review

I recently saw Detropia, a new independent film making the rounds of America’s many film festivals. Detropia is a film of contrasts. As viewers we see the advanced decay of Detroit in panoramic views, but also up close as the camera wonders through ruined buildings and abandoned neighborhoods where the grass grows like waving wheat and few homes remain. Some views show summer scenes in colors galore that contrast with winter scenes of falling snow on somber gray streets, and a forlorn walker bundled against the cold. Shots of bulky and abandoned commercial and public buildings moldering in the sun add to the sense of loss. I thought I saw shots of the ruined Michigan Central railroad depot where I used to go with my parents and brother to pick up our grandmother on her visits long, long ago.

The misery of Detroit in pictures contrast with a selection of Detroiters we meet in between, and sometimes along with, the visual images. We meet a former teacher who now runs Raven Lounge, the head of U.A.W. local 22, a starving artist and a few more. They all express a gritty determination to stay and make Detroit revive. These are not a Pollyannaish bunch, they have an edge of cynicism and regret, but they are hometown Detroiters and they will stay and keep an eye on the main chance.

Along the way we meet the mayor, former basketball star Dave Bing, whose words and demeanor conveys good will. His city is broke with the loss of the automobile industry and over half its population, but it apparently has nearly 40 square miles of empty land, which he recognizes as a resource. He announces a plan for urban gardening on the empty land. Later when the camera flashes to a residential front porch we find three weary and dubious gents having an eye-rolling laugh at the mayor’s expense. They wonder if people will want to steal their tomatoes in the new agricultural economy of Detroit.

The mayor’s suggestion has the kernel of a bigger idea, which I would urge him to push further: a more self-sufficient regional economy. When Detroit prospered it produced and exported cars to other states and other countries. The earnings from car sales allowed Detroiters to specialize and then import what they needed from production elsewhere around the country and the world.

In a global economy, specializing in capital intensive industries carries risks and makes any region dependent on the whims of others, both in the corporate office and the erratic marketplace. The guys on the porch would be better off wondering how to produce tomatoes and then sell them locally to Detroiters, creating some jobs in the process, but more important re-circulating the money in the local economy to support other jobs.

Everyone eats, which makes food and food processing a good place to begin developing a less dependent and self-supporting local economy. The enormous companies that are necessary in the automobile industry are not necessary in food processing, nor in other industries and services. The country threw away its textile and apparel industries on the propaganda of free traders. Combined textile and apparel had 1.6 million jobs in 1990; 388 thousand are left in 2011, but it was not inevitable as economists like to say.

Creative retailers are finding small scale clothing production can be cost competitive when it is combined with retail operations. Retailers that produce on site in their own space capture the entire marketing margin and make better use of their employees for the seasonal fluctuations common to the cut and sew industry. Local production eliminates shipping charges from the Far East. Freight charges from China to Long Beach are only part of the expense to import clothing. There are Long Beach handling charges, warehouse in and out fees, forklift fees, customs entry fees, and customs duties, but the clothing shipment still sits in Long Beach. Add the shipping fee from Long Beach to wherever. When it is all added up local production does not look so far fetched.

The mayor needs Detroit banks committed to local lending and development and a readily identifiable Detroit label. Then he needs to convince Detroiters to pool their savings in local banks and to buy the Detroit label. It is a tough thing to do, but that is what I liked about Detropia. The contrast of misery and commitment give the impression these things might be possible in Detroit.

Detropia was a little confusing at first, but gradually clears up because the people who spoke in the film did a good job. They did not fumble and stumble but made their points clearly enough to suggest they had thought about and planned what they were going to say rather than impromptu interviews. The film makers flashed a few facts on the screen but avoided excessive narration. Detropia is an ambitious film worth seeing, but more important, worth thinking about.

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Jobs for PhD's

I continue to see articles describing the grim job market for those pursing and finishing PhDs. A recent article from the Washington Post from July 7, 2012 (“U.S. pushes for more scientists, but the jobs aren’t there”) describes a surplus of science doctorates looking for research positions. The article uses examples of four people: a new neuroscientist yet to find work, two chemists laid off from pharmacy research, and a geneticist who spent 7 years as a low paid post doctoral research apprentice before leaving research entirely. It makes sober reading, especially when the politicians still talk about a future with new jobs in “high tech.” However, the bigger picture of jobs for doctorates in all fields gets worse day by day.

The accelerating growth of new PhDs in all fields is the first source of job problems for new graduates. In the year ending June 2000, 44.8 thousand finished doctorates. The number increased every single year until 70.2 thousand finished degrees in the year ending June 2010. (1) The totals come from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education. In the years from June 2000 to June 2010, 599.1 thousand new PhD’s were added to the supply of existing PhD holders.

No one pursing a PhD can afford to ignore the college teaching market which has over 80 percent of the jobs certain to require a PhD. From the years 2000 to 2010 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports college faculty increased from nearly 1.31 million to 1.46 million, or about 150 thousand new jobs. A job market with potentially 599.1 thousand new PhD’s looking for 150 thousand new jobs guarantees some very difficult job hunting. Retirements in any field can help generate job openings even if job growth is slow, except that tenured college faculty have a well earned reputation for retiring later rather than sooner.

Any American thinking of a PhD should remember that up to a third of science and engineering PhDs in selected years are foreign nationals, especially over the last 20 years. Many foreign nationals started careers in the United States but more and more they return home to start new companies and work in research and teaching in their native universities. Americans with doctorates need to accept that the job market for doctorates looks more and more like a global market.

Optimists and pessimists both know that some fields are better than others. Take chemistry, a field where chemistry faculty in postsecondary education increased from 16 thousand in 2000 to 21.1 thousand in 2010, or 5.1 thousand more faculty jobs. Nearly 2.5 thousand finished chemistry doctorates in 2010 alone with over 20 thousand new chemistry doctorates reported from 2000 to 2010.

As a science field, it helps that chemists have more opportunities outside of teaching than other fields in social sciences and literature. The chemical manufacturing industry, especially the pharmaceutical industry and also the plastics, rubber, paint, and fertilizer industries, hires chemists. Firms specializing in engineering services and firms doing basic research also employ chemists. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports jobs for just over 80 thousand chemists and 27 thousand chemical engineers in 2011.

Some of the jobs for chemists in research and manufacturing need a PhD, but the credential itself is not as important in business and research the way it is for academia. Management decides which jobs can be done without PhD skills, which puts PhD holders in competition with a plentiful supply of chemistry baccalaureate and master degree holders. Worse, jobs for chemists and chemical engineers are both down since 2000. The decline is small but there are thousands of new BA, MA as well as PhD degrees in chemistry, and similarly in other fields.

The surplus of doctorates and their dominant employment as college faculty has generated a dual job market where established faculty with tenure operate separately from new PhD’s. New PhD’s might find post doctoral research in the sciences or adjunct positions with a course by course salary or a temporary appointment, but those positions go for expansion or to replace retiring faculty. Tenured faculty do not lose their jobs or accept lower salaries to hire and pay new faculty. The burden of the surplus falls entirely on new PhDs to accept low salaries for an indefinite period.

Dual markets and the risk of long delays working at low wages make it difficult to forecast a rate of return to funds invested in a Ph.D. Where people leave their chosen field for other work the return drops to zero, but long delays on top of four to seven years in a graduate program suggests minimal returns on a large investment of tuition, time and effort. Those thinking of a PhD should think carefully.

Note (1) The total excludes law, pharmacy, medicine (MD) and veterinary degrees.

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The Depressing Effects of Inequality

Millions of Americans cushioned themselves against the 2009-10 recession by doubling up in houses and apartments. That was the conclusion of the U. S. Census Bureau in a report released June 20, 2012. The number of adults sharing a household with family members, or other individuals, jumped from 17 to 18.7 percent of households from 2007 and 2010. Doubling up accounted for 22 million of 2010 households.

If logic services me doubling up guarantees one household could be at least two, or that 22 million households could be at least 44 million households. The report cited young adults as the most likely to be part of a doubled up household so that families with several children could be three or more households. Some undoubtedly share a household by choice, but the lack of job opportunities, low wages and high taxes on wage income depress opportunities to start new households.

Too often the popular media treats inequality as a matter of fairness, but these tiresome equity debates have turned into an indulgence America can no longer afford. America’s growing inequality depresses buying power and eliminates billions of dollars in transactions that would support production, income and jobs.

College graduates returning home to live with parents and find part time and temporary jobs limit billions of dollars that should be going into the spending stream for housing, along with home furnishings, apartment and homeowners insurance, clothing and consumer goods sales, which in turn cut the income of landlords, realtors, department stores, insurance agents, which in turn cuts tax revenues and spending for all levels of government, and so on.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment data tells some of the inequality story. In 2009 I can find 199 occupations that employed 57.6 million people working in jobs that paid median wages less than $30,000. By 2011 those same 199 occupations employed 56.7 million people and 40 of the occupations had lower wages in 2011 than 2009; another 126 had some increase in wages but less than the rate of inflation. Cashier was one of the 33 remaining occupations with 2011 wages high enough to raise the buying power of cashiers, but the higher median for 2011 was still only $18,820.

Millions who work and live on wages have to double up on housing and do without health care and other necessities. The Obama administration’s social security tax cut generated a broad based increase in buying power that primarily explains the modest boost to the economy. In spite of the improvements the well-to-do keep defending policies like low tax rates on dividends and capital gains, knowing full well that people living on wages pay higher taxes to make up the lost revenue. I do not hear Democrats or Republicans willing to confront inequality as self defeating policy for all, but that is what it is now. Unless the inequality issue is addressed, the economy and job markets will continue to flounder indefinitely. Take that as a forecast.

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College Degree Round UP

Up dated and Revised with new data August 2013

College Degree Round Up

American colleges and universities continue to turn out graduates, and in ever increasing numbers. In the year ending June 2011, the last year of complete data, the National Center for Education Statistics at the United States Department of Education reported 942,327 graduates receiving associates degrees, 1,715,913 receiving Baccalaureate degrees, 730,635 receiving master's degrees, 73,848 receiving doctoral degrees, and 95,749 receiving professional degrees. Professional degrees include medical, pharmacy, veterinary, law and theology. All degrees are up from the previous year.

In 1900 the decennial census counted that year's college graduates; 27,410 received Baccalaureate Degrees from degree granting colleges. After reaching 186,500 in 1940, BA degrees climbed to 432,048 in 1950 when WWII veterans began taking advantage of the GI Bill of Rights and entered college in large numbers. Earned degrees declined some later in the 1950's; but surpassed all earlier numbers by 1964. Earned baccalaureate degrees jumped to 792,316 in June of 1970; 900 thousand in 1973; 1 million in 1989. In June 2000, 1,237,875 earned Baccalaureate degrees from accredited degree granting colleges and universities. The total of 2011 degrees, associate, masters, doctorate, and first-time professional in addition to the 1,715,913 BA degrees mentioned above came to 3,558,472 for the year ending June 2011.

Growth Rates

The numbers receiving United State College degrees continue to grow at a 2.86 percent annual average rate over the last 20 years; more than double the growth rate for the adult population and more than double the growth rate of the civilian labor force. The rate applies to the total of degrees granted from U.S. colleges and universities: associate, baccalaureate, masters, doctorates and first professional degrees. In this way America is getting better educated with a better educated workforce.

Growth rates vary widely by sex and by level of degree. Women have higher growth rates in all degree levels going back to 1990. Women were 41 percent of BA degrees in 1970 but they make up 57.2 percent of the degrees in 2011 leaving 42.8 percent to men. In 2011, women graduates out numbered the men in associates, baccalaureate, masters and doctorate degrees. Men hold a slight edge in professional degrees, but that has fallen to less than 2 thousand a year. For the past twenty years the growth rate of women degree candidates in professions, primarily law and medicine, was 5 times that of men. Women will soon be the majority in the professions.

The master's degree has the highest annual growth rate at 3.94 percent starting from June 1990. The rate for women is 4.54 percent; for men 3.16 percent. Associates degrees are second with a growth rate of 3.41 percent a year, but the growth rate is the combination of a 3.04 percent for men and a 3.66 percent women.

The 73,848 who received doctoral degrees is the highest ever. The doctorate holds third place in growth rate at 3.2 percent per year from 1990 to 2011. Women have a higher growth rate at 4.8 percent compared to 1.11 percent for men. Women doctorates were just slightly over a thousand a year in 1960, but women passed men in 2007 and every year since with 37,163 in 2011.

Baccalaureate degrees hold fourth place at an annual growth rate 2.27 percent. That means almost 664,569 more degrees in 2011 than 1990. Again growth rates for women are higher than men: 2.57 percent for women, 1.90 percent for men.

The slowest annual growth of all comes in first professional degrees with an annual growth rate of only 1.44 percent. Medical Doctor, also known as the MD degree, has the low growth rate of professional degrees: .57 percent. Among other medical specialties podiatry has negative growth, chiropractic medicine and optometry have low growth: .1 percent and .86 percent. None of these other medical degrees are as important to the country as the MD degree where America's medical schools turned out just 16,863 graduates in 2011, which is just 925 more than 1985-86. Veterinary medicine has higher growth than the MD degree, although lower numbers. Pharmacy degrees have the highest growth rate among first professional degrees. Pharmacy is the third leading first time professional degree with 12,274 thousand graduates in 2011 compared to 1,244 in 1990. Outside of medicine, law degrees continue to grow at a slow but steady pace of .79 percent a year with 44,445 graduates in 2011, just 100 more than last year. Theology has negative growth with 5,832 graduates in 2011.

Degree Program Details 2011

The National Center for Education Statistics defines individual degree programs within a hierarchy of programs defined as part of its Classification of Instructional Programs, or CIP for short. Individual degrees are grouped as part of related degrees in a broader group of functional levels. For example, civil engineering is an instructional degree program within the broader functional level, engineering. Political science is an instructional degree program within the broader functional level, social science.

Associates degrees, were up 942,327 in 2011 as mentioned above. The National Center for Education Statistics first started reporting associates degrees in June of 1966 when they were 111,607 graduates. They have increased with almost every year bigger than the last. Degrees in liberal arts and science, general studies and humanities continue to grow with 306,670 degrees in 2011, which was 32.5 percent of associates degrees and more than any other field of study. Health professions hold second place with 201,831; business degrees have third place with 121,728 degrees. Many with associate’s degrees go on to finish baccalaureate degrees but many associates degree have career oriented degrees that could be terminal degrees for entry level training. Personal and culinary services, criminal justice and corrections, mechanics and repairers are three degrees with 83,150 graduates in 2011 and specific entry skills to begin a career. Computer and information sciences and support services continued a fifth year of increase with 37,677 degrees, 77 percent men. The total remains below the 46 thousand degrees of 2003. Many of the technical programs in nursing, health, engineering and architecture provide entry skills, but also a beginning path to baccalaureate or advanced degree training.

Baccalaureate degrees were up to 1,715,913 for the year ending June 2011. The National Center for Education Statistics reports at least one degree in 870 different Baccalaurette instructional degree programs, also known as fields of study, or majors. Business baccalaureate programs had the highest percentage of total BA degrees: 21.3 percent. Social science degrees including history, political science, sociology, economics and history was second with 177,174 degrees, or 10.3 percent of BA degrees, relatively more important than third place health care and related occupations with 143,430 and 8.36 percent of BA degrees. Health care and related professions has a 5 year average increase with 10,291 degrees, the highest of the broad BA degree fields of study and therefore higher than business with 9,410, and social sciences with 3,132.

No other field of study with BA degrees has as much as 7 percent of degrees. Education has 103,992 at 6.06 percent, primarily elementary education. Psychology has 100,893 at 5.88 percent of degrees. Biology and life sciences, and visual and performing arts have over 5 percent, and communications, journalism and related studies have 4.85 percent. Important degrees in computer and information sciences have only 43,072 BA degrees, just 2.51 percent of the total; engineering did a little better with 76,376 BA degrees, a 4.45 percent share. However, computer and information sciences have a negative 5 year average increase. Several BA fields of study show a 20 year decline: English language and literature and mathematics and statistics and the BA in education, although all three continue with significant numbers:

Masters degrees were up for the year as they have every year for more than a decade. At least one degree reported for 845 different degree programs, but degrees tend to be concentrated in a few fields. Like the Baccalaureate degree the masters degree in business holds first place with 187,213 master’s degrees and 114,065 of the degrees in the single program, the MBA degree. Business has 25.6 percent of master’s degrees. Education master’s degrees hold second place with 185,009 in 95 degree programs. All masters degrees in educational specialties are 25.3 percent of all master’s degrees for the year ending June 2011.

Education is a degree level where there are more master’s degrees than baccalaureate degrees. Library science, social work, and counseling also have more masters than baccalaureate degrees. Library science had 96 BA degrees; 7,727 masters degrees for 2011. In education for nearly all the public schools teachers that earn masters degree in educational specialties open career opportunities teaching in specialized programs and move to a higher pay scale. The master degree is often directly tied with career opportunity and advancement.

Health professions holds third place with 75,579 masters degrees, 10.3 percent of the total. The largest master’s degree training occurs in nursing with 9,132 MSN degrees compared to 75,579 at the BA degree level. Public health is next with 5,293 degrees and health care administration and management is third place with 5,687 degrees.

There were 38,719 masters degrees reported in 42 engineering degree programs. Computer and information services specialties had 19,446 master’s degrees, up from only 13,063 in 2009, but less than the 20,143 high in 2004. It has fewer degrees than social work which had 21,084 degrees, despite higher job prospects and salaries in computer and information services. Chemistry leads physical science degrees, but with only 2,272 degrees. Mathematics had 5,843 master’s degrees but both math and science are small compared to business, education and health professions masters degrees.

Doctoral degrees were up to 73,848 for the year ending June 2011. Annual growth rates continue to be very high with a five year average increase of 3,556. Doctoral candidates are up every year for over a decade. The health professions had 14,681 doctorates, or 19.9 percent of doctorates for the year. The total does not include the MD degree, which is a professional degree. Second place goes to education with 9,623 doctorates and 13.0 percent of the total. Engineering had 8,369 PhD’s, or 11.3 percent of doctorates. Biology and biomedical sciences 7,693 degrees, or 10.4 percent of doctorates; physical sciences 5,295 degrees, or 7.2 percent of doctorates. The biological and physical sciences have a higher share of doctorates than they do for baccalaureate degree programs. Specialties in psychology in 22 programs with at least one degree totaled 5,851 doctorates. In the social sciences, economics, political science, sociology and history have the largest share of the 4,390 social science doctorates. Business has only 2,286 doctorates, mostly the DBA. English language and literature shows a decline since 1970, but modest growth since 1990 with 1,056 doctorates in 1990 and 1,344 in 2011.

Percentage Distribution of All Degrees Granted for the Year Ending June 2010

1. Business, management, marketing - - - makes up 22.0% of all degrees
2. Education - - - makes up 11.8% of all degrees
3. Social Sciences, and history, lib-arts, general-studies, multi-disciplinary - - - 12.0%
4. Health Professions - - - 9.3%
5. Physical sciences, Biological and Biomedical sciences - - - 5.8%
6. Psychology - - - 5.2%
7. Engineering - - - 4.9%
8. Visual and performing arts - - - 4.4%
9. English language/literature/letters, Area & ethnic stud, Foreign languages - - - 4.0%
10. Communication, journalism, and related programs - - - 3.7%
11. Public administration and social service professions - - - 2.6%
12. Computer science - - - 2.5%
13. Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting - - - 2.2%
14. Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies - - - 1.7%
15. Philosophy and religious studies, Theology and Religious Vocations - - - 1.6%
16. Natural resources and Agriculture - - - 1.4%
17. Family and consumer sciences/human sciences - - - 1.0%
18. Mathematics and Statistics - - - 1.0%
19. Engineering technologies/technicians - - - .9%
20. Architecture - - - .7%
21. Law and Legal studies - - - .4%
22. Library science - - - .3%
23. Communications technologies/technicians and support services - - -.2%
24. Transportation and materials moving technologies - - -.3%

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Cheap Labor - Down on the Farm

On April 30, 2012 the associated press wrote a story titled “Move to kill planned rules on child farm labor draws criticism.” The article tells readers the Obama administration has abandoned a proposal to restrict the use of child labor on dangerous farm jobs. Restrictions for 16 year olds banned them from operating power driven farm machinery especially tractors, working at heights to protect against falls, and from castrating farm animals. Other limitations among 15 new rules banned 18 year olds from working in grain silos, feet lots and stock yards. Exemptions allowed exclusion for children working on their parent’s farm.

Proponents argued that four times more children are killed while performing farm work than those in all other industries combined. Republican opponents called the plan “impractical, heavy-handed regulation that ignored the reality of small farms.” Democrat Al Franken from a farm state offered his opposition. Sarah Palin chimed in from her Facebook page with her own apocalyptic worry: “If I wanted America to fail, I’d ban kids from farm work.” Gee?

The American Farm Bureau waxed sentimental because “the new prohibitions would upset traditions in which many children work on farms owned by uncles, grandparents and other relatives to reduce costs and learn how a farm operates.

We could suppose the Farm Bureau slipped up here when they worried about reducing cost because the quoted comments sound mostly intended to divert attention from the true purpose of their opposition: cheap labor.

Access to cheap immigrant labor helped reduce farm costs for a number of years, but Republicans have always had to fake their opposition to immigration because part of their right wing constituents don’t like it, even though their agri-business and corporate farm constituents do. Now that cheap immigrants are harder to find, the Republicans need to find some new source of cheap labor.

The article mentioned the government’s estimate that 300,000 children were involved out of about 1.4 million the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports working in wage and salary employment in agriculture. Since the government exempted children of family farms we can expect the 300,000 children in question are mostly helping to save money for corporate agriculture.

With 12 million unemployed and quite a few millions more leaving the labor force for lack of work it does appear adult replacements might be found, but possibly not at the pathetic wages big business expects to pay the kids. Since the farm price support subsidies go more and more to agri-business as they become fully integrated companies operating from the farm to the supermarket, we have to expect farm subsidies are much bigger than the difference between adult wages and the low wages to children.

Using child labor goes back many years. Congress passed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act way back in 1916. It was an age when the courts were the primary source of aid to business in their eternal quest for cheap labor. With this in mind reformers were careful to craft a bill which relied on the commerce clause of the constitution to prohibit the transportation of products through interstate commerce if they were produced with child labor.

Using authority in the commerce clause was a practical strategy intended to defer to, or satisfy, the judicial review they were certain would come. In previous cases the court repeatedly ruled that the commerce clause of the constitution provided Congress with unqualified powers in the regulation of interstate commerce.

Even though the court had previously upheld a ban on the interstate transportation of adulterated drugs, and another banning the interstate sale of lottery tickets, and another banning the interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes, the justices searched for previously unheard of excuses to undo the child labor legislation.

In the Supreme Court case known as Hammer v. Dagenhart the court wrote that the interstate transportation of adulterated drugs, lottery tickets, and prostitutes created “harmful results” but the new law that restricted children under 14 from working more than 8 hours a day, or more than 6 days a week, or before 6 A.M. or after 7 P..M. in textile mills did not create “harmful results” and was therefore beyond the power of Congress to regulate.

In the wrap up to their long and convoluted written opinion the justices declared the Keating-Owen Child Labor act “repugnant” to the constitution. The Supreme Court opinion came on June 3, 1918, or 94 years before Sarah Palin told us America will fail banning kids from farm work. Decide for yourself, but I do not see satisfactory progress in America’s attitudes toward exploiting children, or making excuses for using cheap child labor.

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Physical Therapy

Physical therapy services are part of health care that is delivered by people working in three occupations: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants and Physical Therapist Aides. The three and their Standard Occupational Classification codes are defined below.

29-1123 Physical Therapists
Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and decrease or prevent deformity of patients suffering from disease or injury.

31-2021 Physical Therapist Assistants
Assist physical therapists in providing physical therapy treatments and procedures. May, in accordance with State laws, assist in the development of treatment plans, carry out routine functions, document the progress of treatment, and modify specific treatments in accordance with patient status and within the scope of treatment plans established by a physical therapist. Generally requires formal training.

31-2022 Physical Therapist Aides
Under close supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing the patient and the treatment area.

Physical therapists need a license that usually requires a master’s degree for entry. Around 85 percent work in health care, 5 percent in education and a few try to work as self employed. Physical therapy assistants and aides are tied to working for, or with, physical therapists. Physical therapy assistants do not have specific educational requirements and only about 20 percent have a BA degree or above in any field.

Physical therapy services are like many services in and out of health care in that the occupational definition and work of physical therapist establishes that physical therapists can do all of the work of physical therapy assistants and physical therapy aides. Physical therapy assistants can do all the work of physical therapy aides. Employers have the financial incentive to limit the work of physical therapists to that part of physical therapy that requires the training and license of a physical therapist. By splitting the work into more specialized parts they can hire much cheaper assistants and aides to do the other work and limit the number of jobs they must have for the higher paid work. That goes on in millions of America’s jobs.

National employment as physical therapists reached 185,440 as of 2011, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as a job needing at least BA degree skills. Jobs are up by an average of 5,912 a year since 2000 with a growth rate far above the national average. Physical therapy assistants had 67,550 jobs in 2011 with jobs up an average of 2,130 a year since 2000 and a growth rate above the national average. Physical therapy aides had 47,640 jobs with jobs up an average of 1,184 a year and growth above the national average.

In general physical therapy degree training is either BA, or usually MA, but any degree training for an assistant might be an associate’s degree in some allied health program. Expect though that no one wants to do physical therapy degree training to be a physical therapy assistant. There is no AA degree in physical therapy as such, but various exercise and health degrees. Therefore, much of the work of the assistant is on the job training. The physical therapy aide job requires some on the job training but should be considered dead end work by itself.

Job growth is not the only measure of new hiring. Job openings equal job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be any job growth. Job openings for physical therapists have been averaging around 8,705 per year in recent years; openings for physical therapy assistants are expected to average 3,525 a year; for physical therapy aides 2,324 a year.

Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual by 2,080.

The entry wage in the 10th percentile for physical therapists is reported as $54,710 in 2011. The median wage is $78,270, and the 90th percentile wage is $110,670. Yearly reported wage increases barely keep up with inflation especially in the higher range of salary. Buying power continues to erode at the median and 90th percentile wage levels despite increases in monetary wages. Entry level wages boosted buying power at the 10th and 25th percentile wage levels compared to the 8 to 10 years ago.

The entry wage in the 10th percentile for physical therapy assistants is reported as $32,030 in 2011. The median wage is $51,040, and the 90th percentile wage is $71,200. Yearly reported wage have been keeping up with inflation. Buying power is up moderately over the last 7 to 8 years.

The entry wage in the 10th percentile for physical therapy aides is reported as $17,180 in 2011. The median wage is $23,680, and the 90th percentile wage is $35,340. Yearly reported wage increases are not keeping up with inflation. Buying power is about the same or a little lower over the last 7 to 8 years.

New BA, MA and doctorate degrees in Physical Therapy are part of 11 different Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professional degree specialties and those 11 are part of 164 degree programs in health professions and related clinical sciences. BA degrees in physical therapy programs totaled 550 for the year ending 2009. The total is down from the recent high of 778 degrees in 2005. However, the MA degree and Doctorate degree are more important than a BA degree in physical therapy. The MA degree had 1,360 graduates in the year ending June 2009, but that was down from 4,687 in 2002. The doctorate degree had 7,192 degrees in the year ending June 2009, but that was up from 966 in 2001. Therefore the doctorate degree is replacing other physical therapy degrees as the education level for physical therapy.

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Social and Human Service Assistants

Standard Occupational Classification #21-1093 Social and Human Service Assistants

SOC Definition--Assist professionals from a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, or social work, to provide client services, as well as support for families. May assist clients in identifying available benefits and social and community services and help clients obtain them. May assist social workers with developing, organizing, and conducting programs to prevent and resolve problems relevant to substance abuse, human relationships, rehabilitation, or adult daycare.

Examples of other common names in use--Addictions Counselor Assistant, Case Work Aide, Clinical Social Work Aide, Family Service Assistant, Human Services Worker, Social Work Assistant

Social and human service assistants exclude those working in occupations (21-1015) Rehabilitation Counselors, (39-9021) Personal and Home Care Aides, (43-4061) Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs, and (29-2053) Psychiatric Technicians.

Social and human service assistants work in both public and private social assistance establishments. Around 32-36 percent work in private sector firms doing individual and family services, community food and housing services, and vocational rehabilitation services. About 25 to 28 percent work in government social assistance about evenly split between local and state government. They are also employed directly in the health care industry: 16 to 17 percent in nursing and residential care facilities, 5 to 6 percent in outpatient care centers, 4 to 5 percent in hospitals. Religious, civic and social organizations also sponsor some social assistance and hire 5 to 6 percent of social and human service assistants. Almost none are self employed, virtually all work for establishments.

Social and human resource assistants are one of a group of occupations common to social assistance. Include six counseling specialty occupations and four social work occupations as work common to social assistance. Social and human resource assistants are the lowest paid of social assistance occupations. Like many other jobs in education and health care that have aide or assistant in their job titles social and human resource assistants do the time consuming parts of coordinating and delivering services or treatments to clients in order to save time for higher paid professional staff. However, licensing and certification for most social service occupations, especially social work, are less severe than health care. For this reason, social and human resource assistants, especially those with BA degrees, should explore possibilities for advancement once they are familiar with the work.

National employment as Social and Human Service Assistants reached 359,860 as of 2011. Jobs are up by an average of 8,995 a year since 2000 with a growth rate far above the national average. In the recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments for social and human service assistants list high school diploma or equivalent as the entry level education minimum, none for work experience in a related occupation and short term on the job training up to a month as necessary preparation to do the work.

However, survey data percentages are published for the social and human service assistant occupation. Survey results show an educational distribution of 2.4 percent of social and human service assistants have less than a high school degree, 14.4 percent have a high school degree, 20.9 percent have some college, but no degree, 9.5 percent have an associate’s degree, 37.9 percent have a baccalaureate degree, 13.5 percent have a master’s degree and 1.4 percent have a doctorate degree.

Job growth is not the only measure of new hiring. Job openings equal job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be any job growth. Job openings for Social and Human Service Assistants have been averaging around 12,800 per year in recent years.

The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual by 2,080.

The entry wage in the 10th percentile for Social and Human Service Assistants is reported as $19,180 in 2011. The 25th percentile wage equals $22, 930. The median wage is $28,740, the 75th percentile wage equals $36,440 and the 90th percentile wage is $45,710. Yearly reported wage increases barely keep up with inflation across the whole salary distribution. Buying remains about the same for the past decade.

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