Education & Social Impact
Social Worker
सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता
Supports people and families facing problems such as poverty, illness, disability, abuse or exclusion, and connects them with services and their rights.
See when you could start working, and what it could payPay in India today, estimated from job sites
About ₹2.8 lakh a yearAverage across all experience levels: the middle of 2 job sites' averages, which run from ₹2.1 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh a year.
Indeed India · Social worker₹17,163 a month average (₹2.1 lakh a year)
Range ₹9,349 to ₹31,507 a month · Based on 48 salaries · Updated 19 March 2026
PayScale India · Social Worker₹3.5 lakh a year average
Range ₹1.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh · Based on 38 salary profiles · Updated May 16 2026
Also see Glassdoor India(opens in a new tab) · AmbitionBox(opens in a new tab).
These are job sites' estimates from salaries people report there. They aren't official figures and aren't a promise of pay; pay varies a lot by city and employer. We re-read each figure on the site's page before showing it (last checked 21 Oct 2026).
- Class 11–12 stream
- Open to any stream
- Key subjects
- Psychology, Political Science, Economics
- Often valued in this work
- Impact on others, Stability, Global exposure
What the work looks like
- Visiting families and communities to understand their situation
- Planning support and linking people to government schemes, health care or legal help
- Keeping case records and working with schools, hospitals and NGOs
The realities
Emotionally demanding work, much of it in the field and sometimes in difficult settings. Social workers are employed by NGOs, hospitals, schools, companies' CSR teams and government programmes.
The usual route in India
A Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) or a BA in any subject, then a master's in social work (MSW or MA Social Work), usually two years. Many institutes, including TISS, admit to their postgraduate programmes through CUET-PG.
Entrance exams and tests
Linked exams open their official dates and sources.
Other ways in
Graduates of most subjects can apply for a master's in social work; check each institute's eligibility. Fieldwork, volunteering and fellowships with NGOs are common ways in.
Entry routes and their official rules
Each route names the Class 11–12 subjects its official rules ask for. A closed route doesn't close the career: check the others. Rules change each year, so confirm with the official source before you decide.
Routes into this career
Verification requiredClass 11–12 subjects: Not checked yet.
Mentioned in our career library; we haven't checked it against an official source yet.
Sources and checks
Not yet expert-checked: Written by the Edukrish team and not yet reviewed by a counsellor or subject expert. Verify important details with official sources.Written by the Edukrish team and not yet reviewed by a counsellor or subject expert. Exam names, eligibility and routes change, so always confirm with the official body before deciding.
Last updated
Quick answers
- How long does it take to become a social worker in India?
- On the usual route (BSW / BA + master's in social work), about 5 years after Class 12. A student in Class 12 in 2026–27 could start working around 2032; a student in Class 8 around 2036. A preparation year, a master's or a repeated year moves this later.
- How much does a social worker earn?
- Job sites estimate pay in India at about ₹2.8 lakh a year across all experience levels (the middle of Indeed India and PayScale India). These are estimates from salaries people report, not official figures, and pay varies a lot by city and employer.
- Will AI take over the work of a social worker?
- The ILO's 2025 index of generative-AI exposure says this occupation group ("Social work and counselling professionals") has very low exposure: of its 11 typical tasks, 11 have low exposure; none is highly exposed. Exposure measures what the technology could do today, not job losses; it usually changes which tasks people spend time on.
Your future as a social worker
When you could start working, what the work could look like by then, and what it could pay.
Pay data for
- You could start working
- 2034in about 8 years · as social worker / case worker
- Pay in India
- Job sites don't have pay by years of experience for this job in India from enough people yet, so we don't project it. Where a job site publishes today's average, it's near the top of the page.
Your pay over the career
Shown only where reliable data exists.
No reliable pay data for India yet
- Job sites don't have pay by years of experience for this job in India from enough people yet (we need at least 50 salary profiles, updated in 2025 or later), so we don't project it. Where a job site publishes today's average, it's shown near the top of this page.
Your path from today
A three-year degree, then a master's in social work (often through CUET-PG).
Today
Class 10 · 2026–27
Finish Class 12
May 2029
BSW / BA
Aug 2029 – Jun 2032
MSW / MA (Social Work)
Jul 2032 – May 2034
First role: Social worker / case worker
Jun 2034
Growing in the role
2039 (5 years in)
Senior roles, for some
2044+ (10 years in)
A plan, not a promise: a repeated year, a break or a change of course moves these dates.
How the career can grow
Illustrative steps; the years vary by employer and person. Many people stay at a specialist level by choice.
We haven't written the usual career steps for this career yet.
Demand and how the work may change
There's no reliable job-postings data for India yet, so these signals come from the US.
Exposure to generative AI (ILO, 2025)
Very low exposure: most tasks rely on things current generative AI can't do.
- Very low
- Low
- Medium
- High
How many of the 11 typical tasks of “social work and counselling professionals” current generative AI could technically do. Exposure is not the same as job loss: it often changes which tasks people spend their time on. By 2034 the tools will be different again, so treat this as direction, not a forecast.
Who hires people in this career
- Schools and colleges
- Education companies
- NGOs and foundations
- Government programmes
- CSR teams in companies
Kinds of employers today, written by our team. We name companies only with dated hiring evidence, and never suggest a company will be hiring in 2034.
How we work this out: sources, assumptions and limits
Why “no reliable pay data yet”
- Job sites don't have pay by years of experience for this job in India from enough people yet (we need at least 50 salary profiles, updated in 2025 or later), so we don't project it. Where a job site publishes today's average, it's shown near the top of this page.
Timeline assumptions
- Today is in the 2026–27 school year (April to March).
- One class per year, with no repeated year.
- Class 12 results arrive around May; college intakes start on the months shown.
- Admission in the first year you apply.
- Courses take their standard length; a failed year or a break adds time.
- The first job starts about a month after the last stage ends.
Sources
- Indeed Job Postings Index(opens in a new tab) — Indeed Hiring Lab. CC BY 4.0.
- Generative AI and jobs: refined global index of occupational exposure(opens in a new tab) — International Labour Organization (Working Paper 140, 2025). CC BY 4.0.
- Social Security Trustees Report 2025 (economic assumptions)(opens in a new tab) — US Social Security Administration. US public domain.
- Flexible inflation target, April 2026 – March 2031(opens in a new tab) — Government of India / Reserve Bank of India. Official government publication (facts).
- Average hourly earnings by industry and CPI (back-test data)(opens in a new tab) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). US public domain (BLS data).
- PLFS unit-level data (2025 calendar year)(opens in a new tab) — MoSPI (microdata.gov.in). GSDD 2026: free for non-commercial use; commercial use needs MoSPI authorisation and a fee.