The Average Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary
An occupational therapy assistant works in conjunction with an occupational therapist to help patients who have suffered illness, disease or injury regain their abilities to perform everyday tasks. Her duties may include assisting with exercise regimes to aid mobility and helping individuals achieve practical goals such as dressing themselves or preparing a meal. Acting upon the assessment and prescription of the therapist, an occupational therapy assistant will implement strategies and services, monitor a patient's progress and report to the therapist. Her salary is dependent upon certain elements of her employment situation.
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Average Salary
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Data concerning employment and wages for occupational therapy assistants was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2009. It listed the mean yearly salary for a practitioner working in America as $50,830. This translates into a monthly income of $4,236 and an average pay rate per hour of $24.44. The BLS also reported that while the highest-earning 10 percent of occupational therapy assistants earned an average wage of $68,450, the lowest 10 percent received a mean salary of $33,350.
Salary by Industry
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics also published figures, showing how the area of the health-care industry in which an occupational therapy assistant works can impact upon her salary level. It lists home health care services as offering the highest mean wage as of May 2009--$60,980. Nursing care facilities were listed at an average of $54,030 while general medical and surgical hospitals offered $46,240. The offices of other health practitioners (primarily physicians' private practices) employed the greatest number of occupational therapy assistants and offered an average salary of $53,430.
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Salary by Location
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The geographical location in which an occupational therapy assistant works will also bear a significant influence upon the salary level she achieves. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that Texas offered the highest mean wage--$65,900-- followed by Idaho--$63,430. Ohio employed the most occupational therapy assistants across its workforce (0,471 per thousand workers) and offered an average salary of $51,290. Pennsylvania was among the states offering the lowest rates of pay at $45,770.
Salary by Experience
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A third employment factor influencing the salary of an occupational therapy assistant working in the United States is the amount of experience in the profession that she has accrued. Salary comparison website PayScale.com in its survey of January 2011 placed the average salary for a practitioner with less than 12 months in the job at between $28,680 and $41,631. For an assistant with between one and four years behind them the figures were $31,880 to $48,589. Gaining between 10 and 19 years of experience brought compensation of $35,573 to $50,739.
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