youth worker
Youth workers support, accompany and counsel young people, focusing on their personal and social development. They are involved in managing community projects and services through one-to-one or group-based activities. Youth workers can be volunteers or paid professionals who facilitate non-formal and informal learning processes. They are engaged in a large spectrum of activities by, with and for young people.
youth worker youth workers support, accompany and counsel young people, focusing on their personal and social development. They are involved in managing community projects and services through one-to-one or group-based activities. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include social work theory, legal requirements in the social sector, social sciences, adolescent psychological development, sexual disorders.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £44,550 a year for Social workers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £39,517 to £49,959 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2461). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only youth worker, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Administrative
- Personnel and Human Resources
What you'd actually do
- Communicate with other staff to resolve problems with individual students.
- Observe students to detect and report unusual behavior.
- Supervise, train, and evaluate residence hall staff, including resident assistants, participants in work-study programs, and other student workers.
- Provide emergency first aid and summon medical assistance when necessary.
- Make regular rounds to ensure that residents and areas are safe and secure.
- Mediate interpersonal problems between residents.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does youth worker do?
Youth workers support, accompany and counsel young people, focusing on their personal and social development. They are involved in managing community projects and services through one-to-one or group-based activities. Youth workers can be volunteers or paid professionals who facilitate non-formal and informal learning processes. They are engaged in a large spectrum of activities by, with and for young people.
What skills does youth worker need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include social work theory, legal requirements in the social sector, social sciences, adolescent psychological development, sexual disorders, social justice. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace youth worker?
Our AI-durability model gives youth worker a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.