Occupation Profile

Occupational Therapists

(SOC Code : 29-1122)

in California

Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that help restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to disabled persons.

Employers are usually looking for candidates with a Bachelor's degree .

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Occupational Wages

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Area	Year	Period	Hourly Mean	Hourly by Percentile
				25th	Median	75th
California	2012	1st Qtr	$41.27	$36.50	$41.81	$46.73

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Occupational Projections of Employment (also called "Outlook" or "Demand")

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Area	Estimated Year-Projected Year	Employment		Employment Change		Annual Avg Openings
		Estimated	Projected	Number	Percent
California	2010 - 2020	9,000	11,200	2,200	24.4	380

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Job Openings from JobCentral National Labor Exchange

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Enter a Zip Code Find a Zip code in California

Within miles of Zip Code.

Possible Licenses Required and Issuing Authority

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License Title

License Authority

Occupational Therapist

Department of Consumer Affairs
Board of Occupational Therapy
www.bot.ca.gov

About Licenses

Industries Employing This Occupation (click on Industry Title to View Employers List)

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Industry Title

Number of Employers in State of California

Percent of Total
Employment for Occupation in State of California

Offices of Other Health Practitioners

38,883

27.7%

General Medical and Surgical Hospitals

1,393

24.6%

Elementary and Secondary Schools

17,985

7.5%

Employment Services

6,297

6.3%

Nursing Care Facilities

2,386

6.2%

Individual and Family Services

18,414

3.7%

Home Health Care Services

3,702

3.5%

Offices of Physicians

62,928

1.8%

Other Hospitals

120

1.8%

Residential Mental Health Facilities

1.2%

About Staffing Patterns

Training Programs (click on title for more information)

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Program Title

Occupational Therapy/Therapist

About Training & Apprenticeships

About This Occupation (from O*NET - The Occupation Information Network)

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Top Tasks (Specific duties and responsibilities of this job.)

Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate those impaired because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.

Test and evaluate patients` physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.

Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental and physical capabilities.

Evaluate patients` progress and prepare reports that detail progress.

Complete and maintain necessary records.

Train caregivers how to provide for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.

Recommend changes in patients` work or living environments, consistent with their needs and capabilities.

Develop and participate in health promotion programs, group activities, or discussions to promote client health, facilitate social adjustment, alleviate stress, and prevent physical or mental disability.

Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs and coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.

Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work and school skills and adjust to handicaps.

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Top Skills used in this Job

Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others` reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Time Management - Managing one`s own time and the time of others.

Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

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Top Abilities (Attributes of the person that influence performance in this job.)

Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

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Top Work Values (Aspects of this job that create satisfaction.)

Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

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Top Interests (The types of activities someone in this job would like.)

Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

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Alternate Titles

Independent Living Specialists; Industrial Therapists; Job Trainers; Life Coaches; Rehabilitation Engineers; Staff Therapists; Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists