Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SRI

Midwives

Provide prenatal care and childbirth assistance.

Also called: Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), Homebirth Midwife, Licensed Certified Professional Midwife, Licensed Midwife (LM), Birth Center Midwife, Certified Direct-Entry Midwife, Lay Midwife, Licensed and Certified Midwife.

O*NET 29-9099.01

At a glance

US median annual pay: $65,790; Middle half earn $47,750 to $97,000. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Post-Secondary Certificate; 33% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.
Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.
Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.
Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth.
Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Monitoring4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.8 / 5
Speaking3.8 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.6 / 5
Active Learning3.4 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.6 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry4.5 / 5
Psychology4.2 / 5
Therapy and Counseling3.9 / 5
English Language3.6 / 5
Biology3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic50
Investigative42
Artistic15
Social84
Enterprising28
Conventional38

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

general practitioner · DE Arzt für Allgemeinmedizin/Ärztin für Allgemeinmedizin · FR médecin généraliste
advanced nurse practitioner · DE Akademischer Krankenpfleger/Akademische Krankenschwester · FR infirmier de pratique avancée/infirmière de pratique avancée
nurse responsible for general care · DE Krankenpfleger Allgemeine Krankenpflege/Krankenschwester Allgemeine Krankenpflege · FR infirmier de soins généraux/infirmière de soins généraux
specialist nurse · DE Fachkrankenpfleger/Fachkrankenschwester · FR infirmier spécialiste/infirmière spécialiste
midwife · DE Hebamme/Entbindungspfleger · FR maïeuticien/sage-femme
homeopath · DE Homöopath/Homöopathin · FR homéopathe

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Registered community nurses (2232)70,400 employed
Registered specialist nurses (2233)82,300 employed
Registered nurse practitioners (2234)91,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.23. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-9099).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test