In addition to the probation officer salary you will earn is the job security that will come along with it. According to the Unites States Department of Labor probation officer jobs are expected to grow more rapidly than the average for all other occupations through the year of 2018. With this being said job opportunities in this field will be in high demand.

It is crucial to obtain job growth, and salary information prior to pursuing a career path. Doing this will give you a good idea of what you can earn, and how easy or hard it will be to find work. The last thing you want to do is spend your time and money pursuing a career that can’t even pay back your student loans (if you have any), and where you are unable to even find work. Let’s take a look at the job growth and salary associated with probation officer work.

Probation Officer Job Growth

The increase of employment in this field is expected to grow 19% between 2008-2018. More strict guidelines calling for increased mandatory sentences will result in an increase of those on probation and parole in the years to come. Although because of many States budget cuts, and questions about the effectiveness of stricter sentencing, and emphasis on putting offenders on probation rather than in jail will most likely raise the demand for probation officers.

The main key though will be the amount of dollars the government is able to fund in order to bring on new probation and parole officers in the years to come. The good news being community supervision (probation officers) are far less costly than sentencing offenders to prison. There is in fact always the fear that political changes at the top could fuel movements to imprison more individuals than placing them on probation which would result in the downward movement of jobs in this field.

In addition to the expected job growth in this field, many job opportunities will come from the retirement of officers currently employed in this field. There are large numbers of probation officers currently expected to retire. Heavy workloads, high stress, and low entry level pay also tend to make this occupation unattractive to many, therefore creating more job opportunities for those interested.

Probation Officer Salary Figures

The median yearly probation officer salary & correctional treatment specialist salary in May 2010 was almost $51k. The middle 50% of these two positions earned between $36k and $63k. The lowest 10% of these two jobs earned less than $31k, while the highest 10% made in excess of $81k. In May 2010 the median yearly salary for probation officers & correctional treatment specialists employed by the State government was $52k; and those being employed by the local government made $52k (these above figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Higher incomes for these careers were found to be made in urban areas.

Additional salary research shows that a probation officer can expect to earn a median salary of around $44-50k a year as of May 2012; probation officer salaries are also 39% below the national average of all jobs across the United States.

By evaluating the probation officer salary information above you can get a pretty good idea as to what you would be able to earn at this position. The information in this article along with some of our other probation officer articles should provide with you enough information to make an educated decision as to whether you may enjoy this type of work. You can also find information for other related criminal justice careers at our website, so please feel free to look around.