What About Social Justice? Wage Equity for Social Workers

by Veronica Hardy, PhD, LCSW, NCC

     The 2024 Social Work Month theme was Empowering Social Workers, with a sub-theme of Inspiring Action, Leading Change. This theme was influenced by the increased demand for social workers in response to societal challenges. As noted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), “by 2030 there will be more than 782,000 social workers in the United States,” which “makes social work one of the fastest growing professions.” The Social Work Month theme was further influenced by advocating for the support needed to meet the increased demand for social workers, including wage equity.

Social Work and Income

     The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook identifies the 2023 median yearly income for social workers as $58,380. The BLS further notes that the lowest 10% earn less than $38,400 and the upper 10% earn more than $94,910. With a broad diversity in wages, social worker income is affected by multiple factors, including type of position, educational level, years of experience, geographic location, and employer type—including community food and housing, family services, and federal government. However, it is important to recognize that approximately half of degreed social workers are earning less than the median yearly income. As a result, numerous social workers are living below the living wage needed to support a household of two or more persons.

Empowerment, Advocacy, and Wage Equity

     Jennifer Luna maintains a video series, Conversations on Social Work Careers, with The New Social Worker magazine. In the March 2024 episode, Dr. Erlene Grise-Owens served as a panelist in celebration of Social Work Month and stated the following in reference to self-care: “One of the many struggles in our profession is our struggle around power and, in particular, our own power.... The essence of empowerment is to understand our own power and understand how to attend to our own selves.”

     Dr. Grise-Owens further highlighted that the underlying factor that enables social workers to provide services and respond to diverse needs is self-care. As a result, promoting change and revitalizing the financial conditions of the social work profession require an empowerment-based holistic approach. This would include mutually supportive efforts in which social workers can collaborate to inspire action and lead change.

Inspire Action and Lead Change

     There are numerous ways social workers are collaborating and pursuing efforts to promote wage equity and financial capability across the profession. A few examples include the pursuit of paid internships for students, confronting financial systems that impact student borrowers, and the pursuit of legislation that supports wage equity. An overview of each is described below.

  • Advocating for Paid Internships: In a 2023 Social Work News opinion article titled U.S. Social Workers Are Fighting To Be Paid: It’s Time Social Workers Advocated for Themselves!, Taylor Gilbert stresses the ongoing challenge of social workers being pinned between the decision of pursuing this career and abstaining to avoid incurring significant debt. Gilbert further notes the advocacy efforts taking place by organizations such as Payment 4 Placements (P4P). This movement was developed by students in advocacy for paid internships to decrease socioeconomic challenges experienced by social work students.The P4P movement has chapters spanning across states and universities. Student voices are critical and an important component toward building a holistic approach toward revitalizing the financial conditions of the social work profession. Building strategies to promote financial capability of social workers-in-training teaches students real world advocacy skills in relation to their own situations and how to transition this learning to the broader profession and society post-graduation.
  • Addressing Financial Systems: During the 2022 NASW national conference, the plenary session included Sarah Christa Butts, the NASW Director of Public Policy. During her presentation, advocacy efforts regarding student loan debt relief were identified. These efforts included collaboration with the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), which is designed to protect persons experiencing the harmful practices of certain borrowing and lending systems. Efforts used to address educational financial systems identified by the SBPC include: (1) providing training about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, (2) facilitating States for Student Borrower Protection with connections to student loan ombudsman and advocates to confront predatory loan practices, and (3) creating awareness about processes workplaces implement to hold employees in low-wage positions through finance-based contractual obligations.
  • Wage Equity Advocacy: In 2021, then NASW President Dr. Mildred “Mit” Joyner was a guest on the “Kelsunn-On-The-Air” Social Work Podcast founded by Silas Kelly. The podcast series titled Raise the Wage for Social Workers highlighted that lower salaries in social work are generally in the mental health arena. Dr. Joyner mentioned the importance of “learning what your worth is and then promoting your worth” when providing services to organizations who are paying to access your skills. Promoting social worker worth includes self-advocacy.

     In addition, Valerie Arendt, Executive Director of NASW-NC, was interviewed by ABC11 during a school social work conference. Arendt took the opportunity to advocate for pay equity for school social workers. Further, the NASW-NC 2023 Legislative Agenda includes enhancing the social work workforce through advocacy items including adequate pay, sign-on bonuses, loan repayment, and retention efforts such as increased salaries. Engaging in collaborative advocacy efforts to enhance awareness of the value of social work and the importance of wage equity is a key step in revitalizing the financial condition of the profession.

Social Workers and Financial Literacy

     Complementary to advocating for paid internships, addressing financial systems, and promoting wage equity is the pursuit of financial literacy education as a form of self-care. A 2022 article in The New Social Worker magazine, 4 Steps to Your Financial Makeover: An Overlooked Aspect of Self-Care for Social Workers, identified the value of analyzing your financial history, identifying your financial priorities, and enhancing financial literacy. Further, there are several efforts led by social workers in relation to financial wellness.

     In 2023, the Social Work Wealth Conference was launched to support social workers and various professionals in learning financial management skills, including investing, retirement planning, budgeting, and methods for promoting client financial wellness. A component of the conference was the Social Work Wealth Magazine, which featured an article by Reeta Wolfsohn, founder of the financial social work discipline and the Center for Financial Social Work. The article, Reimagining Social Work Through a Financial Health and Wellness Lens, communicates the value of personal and professional financial wellness, which includes wage equality and paid student internships.

     Now that you have further information about collaborative advocacy efforts and the importance of financial literacy, give thought to steps you could take to inspire action and lead change regarding pay inequalities. What will you do to promote social justice?

Veronica L. Hardy, PhD, LCSW, NCC, is an author, speaker, and social work and counselor educator. She serves on the policy board and board of copy editors for the International Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, published by The International Federation of Social Workers. She volunteers as a professional consultant for the North Carolina-based nonprofit, Doing It for the Kingdom, which works to prevent human trafficking. Further, she is the inaugural editor of the Social Work Wealth Magazine.

To address the need for ongoing cultural competency processes and global perspectives in education and practice, Dr. Veronica Hardy, LCSW, NCC, and Dr. Cathy Lee Arcuino (Executive Director of Global Engagement at Wilkes University) have partnered to develop a virtual workshop titled Internationalizing Mental and Behavioral Health Education with Global Perspectives. By integrating global considerations, cultural relevance, and awareness of diverse contexts into their teaching, educators can better prepare students to navigate the intricacies of mental health on a global scale.

To promote fair access to education, she created The Dr. Veronica L. Hardy Legacy Scholarship, the first scholarship established for the Raleigh/Durham Chapter of the National Black MBA Association's Leaders of Tomorrow program. She is a columnist for The New Social Worker magazine, consults for social work programs on accreditation issues, is a guest speaker for the Center for Financial Social Work, and is the author of numerous publications, including Becoming Untangled: 8 Simple Strategies to Refresh Your Life, Mind, and Habits (2nd Edition) and Impact Your Income: Tips for Financial Wellness and Empowerment.