Reports & Research

Massachusetts is facing a deep and persistent human services workforce crisis that threatens the stability and effectiveness of essential programs across the Commonwealth. The sector has been shaped by multiple converging forces: persistently low wages relative to job responsibilities; limited opportunities for advancement; high emotional demands; and widening competition from state agencies and other sectors offering higher pay, better benefits, and more flexible schedules.

After more than a decade of steady growth, human services employment in Massachusetts declined by 10 percent between 2016 and 2020, contributing to a growing workforce crisis in the human

Following the success of our recent collaborations with the University of Massachusetts — Who Will Care? The Workforce Crisis in Human Services in 2017 and The Fact of the Human Services Sector: Our

A new report from the Providers’ Council, the state’s largest association of community-based human services providers, shows that job growth in the human services industry in Massachusetts is outpacing overall

An economic storm threatens the care of state residents who rely on services.

While the social benefits of the sector that provides critical care to one in ten Massachusetts residents are well known, the sector’s significant economic impact on the Commonwealth had not been quantified until this report.

Social innovation offers the promise of addressing social problems more effectively and more efficiently. For some agencies, it also creates possibilities for increased financial stabilities associated with diversified revenue streams.

The objectives of this report are to provide a concise overview of the major growth areas for human service provision and procurement at
the state level and a review of ground-breaking strategies and significant trends elsewhere in the country to address the emerging issues in this area.