Midwives
Provide prenatal care and childbirth assistance.
Most important skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Psychology
- Therapy and Counseling
- English Language
- Biology
- Education and Training
- Sociology and Anthropology
What the work involves
- Assist maternal patients to find physical positions that will facilitate childbirth.
- Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.
- Provide comfort and relaxation measures for mothers in labor through interventions such as massage, breathing techniques, hydrotherapy, or music.
- Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications.
- Assess birthing environments to ensure cleanliness, safety, and the availability of appropriate supplies.
- Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions.
- Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests.
- Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (32.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (38.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (37.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Midwives is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 29-9099 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 82% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 79% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 97% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 54% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 91% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 1.38%
- Contact with others most of the time: 44.88%
- Constant contact with others: 53.74%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 1.38%
- Fairly important: 13.1%
- Important: 11.98%
- Very important: 5.81%
- Extremely important: 67.72%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 8.06%
- Very important: 24.92%
- Extremely important: 67.02%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 1.61%
- Limited freedom: 8.06%
- Some freedom: 25.23%
- A lot of freedom: 65.09%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 11.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 35.99%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.75%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.49%
- Every day: 6%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 45.95%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 36.78%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.27%
- Every day: 0%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 3.9%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 39.89%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 39.68%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.53%
- Every day: 0%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 16.29%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 4.08%
- Very serious: 13.99%
- Extremely serious: 65.65%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-9099.01 · SOC 29-9099 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8