Occupational Therapy vs. Speech and Physical Therapy

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY VS. SPEECH AND PHYSICAL THERAPY

 

For the first open blog of this semester, I thought I would start out by looking at some statistics of occupational therapy compared to the related careers: speech and physical therapy. I Found a great article that summed it up very well for me. Thought it is not the most recent information (January 26, 2011), I believe it still shows the relationship between the three different fields of work. Overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010-2011 edition),  Physical Therapy holds the highest amount of jobs out of the three with 185,500 jobs in 2008, along with the highest median annual salary of $72,790. However, there are probably more PT jobs then actual practicing PT's because many of them work part time in multiple settings at one time. Occupational Therapy follows with 104,500 jobs and a salary of $66,780. The majority of OT's worked in hospitals, public or private schools, nursing facilities, and other healthcare practitioner's offices', and depending on which setting you work in, the salary can vary. Finally is speech therapy with 119,000 jobs and a salary of $62,930.

I was very interested in how these three careers compared to each other and lets be honest, who isn't interested in learning what their salary could be in the future. But, being mostly interested in occupational therapy, I am very curious to see how these numbers will change in the years to follow until I hopefully will be looking for a job in this field. Hopefully they will go in my favor! 

WORKS CITED

"Some Interesting Facts about Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists." Centra Healthcare Solutions N.p, 26 January 2011. Web. 22 January 2013. 

"Average Annual Salary for Occupational Therapists." Chart. Web. 22 January 2013