Midwives
Health ScienceO*NET 29-9099.01United States
Provide prenatal care and childbirth assistance.
- Median annual earnings
- $65,641
- Projected change
- +8.5%
- Typical education
- Certificate
- Employment
- 41.95K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
32.8% of the workforce
Growing to 45.5K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What midwives do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
- Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments.
- Provide necessary medical care for infants at birth, including emergency care such as resuscitation.
- Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
- Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.
- Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
- Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
- Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.
- Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.
- Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions.
- Maintain documentation of all patients' contacts, reviewing and updating records as necessary.
- Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
- Perform post-partum health assessments of mothers and babies at regular intervals.
- Suture perineal lacerations.
- Test patients' hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose levels.
- Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy.
- Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods.
- Refer patients to specialists for procedures such as ultrasounds or biophysical profiles.
- Assist maternal patients to find physical positions that will facilitate childbirth.
- Assess birthing environments to ensure cleanliness, safety, and the availability of appropriate supplies.
- Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate.
- Provide comfort and relaxation measures for mothers in labor through interventions such as massage, breathing techniques, hydrotherapy, or music.
- Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results.
- Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests.
- Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.
- Provide patients with contraceptive and family planning information.
- Respond to breech birth presentations by applying methods such as exercises or external version.
- Inform patients of how to prepare and supply birth sites.
- Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
- Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care.
- Provide information about community health and social resources.
- Recommend the use of vitamin and mineral supplements to enhance the health of patients and children.
- Compile and evaluate clinical practice statistics.
- Treat patients' symptoms with alternative health care methods such as herbs or hydrotherapy.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $36,413
- 25th percentile
- $46,303
- 50th percentile
- $65,641
- 75th percentile
- $98,974
- 90th percentile
- $138,787
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $65,641 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+8.5%faster than average
202541,952 jobs
2035 projected45,500 jobs
3,548 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Certificate
- 32.8%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 30.3%
- Bachelor's degree
- 28.1%
- Some college
- 8.8%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- 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.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- 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.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Midwives198 postings
- 02OB/GYN Physicians143 postings
- 03Certified Nurse Midwives133 postings
- 04Locums Tenens94 postings
- 05OB/GYNs78 postings
- 06Advanced Practice Providers51 postings
- 07Gynecologists40 postings
- 08Nurse Midwives24 postings
- 09Advanced Practice Clinicians22 postings
- 10Obstetrics Physicians21 postings
- 11Locum Tenens OB/GYN Physicians18 postings
- 12Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants15 postings
- 13OB/GYN Nurse Practitioners10 postings
- 14Unit Coordinators10 postings
- 15Women's Health Nurses10 postings
- 16Women's Health Specialists10 postings
- 17OB/GYN Generalists8 postings
- 18Gynecologic Oncologists7 postings
- 19Case Management Coordinators6 postings
- 20Certified Nurse Midwives/Women's Health Nurse Practitioners6 postings
Top employers
- 01Medicus Healthcare Solutions60 postings
- 02LocumTenens.com57 postings
- 03Practicematch49 postings
- 04Erie Family Health Center40 postings
- 05Planned Parenthood40 postings
- 06Ascension35 postings
- 07Cambridge Health Alliance24 postings
- 08Health & Social Care Recruitment19 postings
- 09Ob Hospitalist Group19 postings
- 10Unified Women's Healthcare18 postings
- 11Atrium Health17 postings
- 12CompHealth16 postings
- 13AdventHealth11 postings
- 14GO Staffing11 postings
- 15Heart Of Ohio Family Health Centers11 postings
- 16Indiana University-Bloomington10 postings
- 17Northwell Health10 postings
- 18Community Health Network9 postings
- 19International Medical Placement, Ltd.9 postings
- 20Mercy9 postings
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