Bill and Account Collectors Job and Employment

Employment of bill and account collectors is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2016. Job prospects are expected to be favorable because growth in the occupation and the many people who leave the occupation are expected to create plentiful openings.

Employment change. Over the 2006-16 decade, employment of bill and account collectors is expected to grow by 23 percent, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. Cash flow is becoming increasingly important to companies, which are now placing greater emphasis on collecting unpaid debts sooner. Thus, the workload for collectors is expected to continue to increase as they seek to collect not only debts that are relatively old, but also ones that are more recent. In addition, as more companies in a wide range of industries get involved in lending money and issuing credit cards, they will need to hire collectors because debt levels will likely continue to rise.

Hospitals and physicians' offices are two of the fastest growing industries requiring collectors. With insurance reimbursements not keeping up with cost increases, the health care industry is seeking to recover more money from patients. Government agencies also are making more use of collectors to collect on everything from parking tickets to child-support payments and past-due taxes. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has begun outsourcing the collection of overdue Federal taxes to third-party collection agencies, adding to the need for workers in this occupation.

Despite the increasing demand for bill collectors, employment growth may be somewhat constrained by the increased use of third-party debt collectors, who are generally more efficient than in-house collectors. Also, some firms are beginning to use offshore collection agencies, whose lower cost structures allow them to collect debts that are too small for domestic collection agencies.

Job prospects. Job openings will not be created from employment growth alone. A significant number of openings will result from the many people who leave the occupation and must be replaced. As a result, job opportunities should be favorable.

Contrary to the pattern in most occupations, employment of bill and account collectors tends to rise during recessions, reflecting the difficulty that many people have in meeting their financial obligations. However, collectors usually have more success at getting people to repay their debts when the economy is good.