Teacher assistants work under a teacher’s supervision to give students additional attention and instruction.

Teacher assistants work in public and private schools, at childcare centers, and for religious organizations. About 2 in 5 worked part time in 2014. Most do not work during the summer.

Teacher assistants typically need to have completed at least 2 years of college coursework.

Employment of teacher assistants is projected to grow 6 percent from 2014 to 2024, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Growth is expected to result from increases in student enrollment and classroom size and continued demand for special education services.

This occupation supported 1,223,400 jobs in 2012 and 1,234,100 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 0.9%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 8.6% in 2022 to 1,328,500 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 1,244,400, compared with an observed value of 1,234,100, 0.8% lower than expected. This indicates current employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 6.4% in 2024 to 1,312,800 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 1,349,500 jobs for 2024, 2.8% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation.