Op-Ed:
The Call Is Coming From Inside the House:
On the Power Imbalance in Social Work Jobs Based on Degree Level
Authored by Tim Campbell-Smith
July, 2025
TL;DR
In Ontario, social work graduates with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) face systemic disadvantages compared to their Master of Social Work (MSW) counterparts—despite sharing professional titles, doing similar training, and performing overlapping roles. This op-ed explores how universities, employers, and insurers perpetuate a two-tiered system that undervalues BSW graduates, limits their job prospects, and financially rewards privilege. Drawing on job data, training comparisons, and tuition structures, the piece offers tangible solutions to create a more equitable future for all social workers—starting from within the profession itself.
Full Article:
In the first semester of my social work degree, my professor had a habit of pointing out the large windows of the classroom and exclaiming “Look! Look at the injustice out there!” We discussed the well-being and welfare of people, exploring a myriad of social problems throughout the course by looking out the window. I have since realized an injustice we Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students would face wasn’t just ‘out there’: it’s within our institutions too.
Social work in Ontario has a problem: Employers and careers with better rewards and more sustainable positions require a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree, which creates a power differential that keeps BSW graduates marginalized.
The problem with degree status and the marginalization of those with a bachelor’s is facilitated by work. After a review of over 80 job postings and aggregate results, I found in Ontario the average salary for a social worker with an MSW is $90,000, though the average salary for a social worker with a BSW is only $59,000. For comparison, a Wellesly Institute report found it costs $61,654 after taxes to afford to live in Toronto. For a smaller city like Guelph, Ontario, $60,000 before taxes barely makes the cut-off, meaning most BSW graduates cannot even afford a one bedroom apartment on a typical salary in a smaller city. School, hospital and private practice are some of the most desired social work jobs, but all require a master’s degree (in most cases). Despite BSW and MSW graduates using a shared title (Registered/Social worker), despite both having similar training, lines are drawn based on degree titles, regardless of comparable training. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that more employers than not request (or require) an MSW.
These issues do not exist in a vacuum: if the educational credential is the difference that causes disparity, then we must compare the credentials. First, it is important to know there are more BSW programs in Ontario than MSW programs: with this we can apply the basic economics principle of supply and demand to explain the problem. With more BSW graduates and fewer cohorts of MSW students, there is a smaller supply of master’s candidates who appear more qualified, and therefore more desirable. With greater demand for social workers with master’s degrees comes greater opportunities in the ways of wages, benefits and security.
If the MSW is more desirable for jobs, one must ask: do master’s students get more or better training than bachelor’s students? My therapist is a social worker who had a Bachelor of Arts and then did a two-year Master of Social Work, and it was her opinion BSW graduates could not perform psychotherapy because they did not have enough training. To test this, I reviewed four universities that offer both BSW and MSW programs. I combined mandatory classroom training with practicum hours between four year BSWs and two-year MSWs to find the core training hours each graduate receives. The results:
From this spot check, some interesting details emerge. First, the average difference in training is only 147.5 hours, or 5 weeks of practicum for students who do 30 hours a week. Next, the Windsor BSW and MSW offers nearly the same amount of training, but Wilfrid Laurier University offers the same amount of training in their BSW as Windsor does for their MSW; and yet, the MSW would be perceived as more desirable for training. To extend this, Laurier students would only need 72 more placement hours to receive the same amount of training hours as Carleton MSW graduates.
Reviewing the training hours, two things become clear: bachelor level students do not receive enough training, and the difference in training between the two programs is minimal. Regardless of analysis technique, master’s students on average receive more training than bachelor’s students, but from the spot check, it is not by much.
BSW students do not receive enough training. That statement alone is concerning. BSW graduates do not receive enough training compared to an MSW student’s, nor do they receive enough training to secure stable, well-paying employment with the same opportunities as master’s graduates do. This is where the call is coming from inside the house: social workers are training to spot, identify and rectify unfair power balances and privilege, yet privilege influences from within the profession who gets stable, well-rewarded employment.
MSW programs are extremely competitive, and equally consider grades, personal statement, work and volunteer experience in the application process. This system rewards people who can afford to not work during their undergrad or work reduced hours in order to volunteer, thereby boosting their likelihood of getting into an MSW program. This system prioritizes people who can disrupt their lives with unpaid practicum time (where many programs discourage students from working during this time) or additional time in school earning a master’s degree. This system prioritizes people who can pay tuition fees while simultaneously standing to lose potential income attending master’s programs. To gain acceptance to an MSW program and better employment, applicants must already, for the most part, possess above average privilege.
To identify a solution to this problem, we first have to look to who benefits from this problem, and begin to untangle the web from there. The first beneficiary are universities. A review of per semester tuition from the four reviewed schools reveals more revenue is generated on average from BSW students, therefore incentivizing universities to open more of these seats.
The difference is $630.81 per student, per semester: whereas BSW students usually do an equivalent of eight semesters and MSW students will do six, the added revenue makes BSW students better for business to universities. Universities benefit by way of metrics they track as well: with fewer spots, acceptance rate declines and prestige increases, applicants become higher calibre and are therefore more likely to finish their program, achieve gainful employment quickly and report satisfaction with their program.
Employers also benefit from a two-tiered system. Despite both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree making an applicant eligible to join the Ontario College of Social Workers and become registered social workers, a two-tiered system based on education means employers can pay BSW graduates less (while in some cases expecting more). Businesses also benefit by way of increasing their applicant pools for positions: by requesting an MSW, they can seek a more desirable candidate, but fall back on and hire (and pay less) a BSW graduate. This creates more leverage, opportunity and choice for the business.
Finally, insurance companies benefit from a two-tiered system, primarily in the private practice setting. First, a two-tiered system means an insurance provider can get away with not covering psychotherapy services rendered by a BSW graduate, thereby saving them money. Further to this, with fewer MSW social workers, there are less therapists to band together and demand better coverage for clients.
There are three solutions to the problem of a two-tiered system that discriminate against BSW students. First, improve training for BSW students by way of more core courses on topics and skills that will be used in the field. To make a comparison to other professional degree programs where graduation grants someone entry to a specific profession, consider the below programs and the number of electives students are able to take. Compare these against the number of electives BSW students get (on the right) from the previously discussed schools.
Other professional degree programs require more courses of their students to ensure both competency and success upon graduation. Increased training hours for BSW students could include more practicum time, more special topic courses, more skills training, or a combination thereof.
Next, insurance companies can modify what they are willing to cover. Offering more coverage for more things could be a unique selling proposition, particularly in the area of mental health, where there is increased attention and need in the Canadian landscape.
Finally, employers can modify their expectations. Knowing for example that training is highly comparable between a BSW and MSW should be a sufficient starting point, but so too should the fact that BSW students have more opportunity to explore their interests through electives or special interest courses. Employers often think there is increased depth of knowledge and skills in master’s graduates, but training hours show this is not particularly true. Bachelor’s programs also offer more opportunities for graduates to develop soft skills that would make social workers a more valuable asset to their team.
I think back to that first year, first semester professor who pointed out the large classroom windows of our social welfare class exclaiming “Look! Look at the injustice out there!” While much of the discrimination towards BSW graduates comes from intersecting systems, social work, and by extension social work education, must respond to systems in their sociohistorical context. To this end, schools offering BSW programs must answer the call to equip their BSW graduates to not only change the world, but be able to afford to live in it. Our school, and all universities, have engaged a bait and switch: get people in for a BSW, and make them realize they need the MSW to survive in today’s economy. The problem is not with MSWs as ongoing training is crucial: it is with how little training there is for BSWs, and what this does to BSW graduate’s earning potential. Perhaps the time has come stop just looking out the window at the world and all that is wrong with it, and look inside to our own institutions.