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The differences between support workers and direct care workers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a support worker has an average salary of $37,039, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a direct care worker.
The top three skills for a support worker include social work, crisis intervention and treatment plan. The most important skills for a direct care worker are direct care, patients, and CPR.
| Support Worker | Direct Care Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $37,039 | $29,343 |
| Hourly rate | $17.81 | $14.11 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 36% |
| Number of jobs | 112,754 | 140,788 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | High School Diploma, 32% |
| Average age | 47 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
A support worker is responsible for supporting the community programs and development efforts to sustain and ensure the citizens' stability, providing them resources for their daily needs, and helping them with financial assistance requests. Support workers conduct family counseling to identify their challenges and needs and coordinate with the necessary organizations to process their requests. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in filing documents and guiding the citizens in achieving their healthy lifestyle and make a positive difference.
A Direct Care Worker's responsibility revolves around overseeing clients' welfare and health care from different ages and conditions. Most of the duties will involve assistance in basic hygienic tasks such as bathing or going to the toilet, performing light chores such as preparing healthy meals and cleaning a bedroom, and ensuring the patient's medication intake aligns with the schedule. Furthermore, it is also the duty of a Direct Care Worker to empathize and build rapport with clients to make them feel more at ease.
Support workers and direct care workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Worker | Direct Care Worker | |
| Average salary | $37,039 | $29,343 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $60,000 | Between $23,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Portland, ME |
| Highest paying state | New York | Washington |
| Best paying company | Dolby Laboratories | Arizona Training & Evaluation Center |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Professional |
There are a few differences between a support worker and a direct care worker in terms of educational background:
| Support Worker | Direct Care Worker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | High School Diploma, 32% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | - |
Here are the differences between support workers' and direct care workers' demographics:
| Support Worker | Direct Care Worker | |
| Average age | 47 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 29.1% Female, 70.9% | Male, 23.4% Female, 76.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 6.4% White, 61.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.7% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 7% |