Robot-Proof Jobs (2024)

Automation At Work

The McKinsey Global Institute analyzed the work activities of more than 800 occupations in the U.S. to determine what percentage of a job could be automated using current technology. It turns out, a small fraction of jobs are either entirely automatable or entirely robot-proof.

The vast majority of jobs consist of some portion of tasks that can be automated and some portion of tasks that can’t. Think you know which jobs are most susceptible to automation?
Take our quiz below and find out.

Which of these three jobs is most automatable?

Tree-Pruning Specialist
CEO
Real Estate Broker

Make a selection

Correct Answer: Real Estate Broker

Pay doesn’t directly correspond to automatability. Plenty of lower-paid jobs, like tree pruning, which requires physical dexterity and maneuvering in unstructured environments, cannot be easily or cheaply replaced by machines.

Which of these three major occupations is most automatable?

Nurse
Freight-Mover
Waiter

Make a selection

Correct Answer: Waiter

Some of the biggest job categories in America — clerks, drivers and food service workers — are highly automatable. Jobs that require interpersonal skills, like nursing and teaching, tend be to less so.

Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food

86.7% Automatable

3,022,890 U.S. Workers

$9.45 per hour
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

86.4% Automatable

1,800,430 U.S. Workers

$13.00 per hour
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

85.6% Automatable

1,586,390 U.S. Workers

$17.57 per hour
Cooks, Restaurant

84.0% Automatable

1,057,540 U.S. Workers

$11.02 per hour
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

81.4% Automatable

1,585,310 U.S. Workers

$19.31 per hour
Waiters and Waitresses

76.9% Automatable

2,403,940 U.S. Workers

$9.95 per hour
Office Clerks, General

61.5% Automatable

2,832,020 U.S. Workers

$14.37 per hour
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

53.6% Automatable

2,159,010 U.S. Workers

$15.91 per hour
Cashiers

48.6% Automatable

3,343,380 U.S. Workers

$10.14 per hour
Retail Salespersons

46.8% Automatable

4,485,080 U.S. Workers

$12.70 per hour
Nursing Assistants

44.2% Automatable

1,427,730 U.S. Workers

$12.33 per hour
Security Guards

39.4% Automatable

1,066,730 U.S. Workers

$13.92 per hour
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

32.7% Automatable

1,213,530 U.S. Workers

$20.08 per hour
Customer Service Representatives

29.3% Automatable

2,389,590 U.S. Workers

$15.88 per hour
Registered Nurses

28.9% Automatable

2,661,850 U.S. Workers

$30.98 per hour
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

25.2% Automatable

1,249,080 U.S. Workers

$18.25 per hour
Personal Care Aides

23.6% Automatable

1,134,940 U.S. Workers

$10.26 per hour
General and Operations Managers

22.8% Automatable

1,973,700 U.S. Workers

$51.45 per hour
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

22.4% Automatable

2,101,820 U.S. Workers

$12.10 per hour
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

22.1% Automatable

1,366,530 U.S. Workers

$24.94 per hour
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products

21.1% Automatable

1,403,200 U.S. Workers

$29.40 per hour
Teacher Assistants

19.9% Automatable

1,190,630 U.S. Workers

$11.88 per hour
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education

15.4% Automatable

1,344,080 U.S. Workers

$25.55 per hour
Accountants and Auditors

12.2% Automatable

1,168,320 U.S. Workers

$32.24 per hour
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

6.7%

2,284,660 U.S. Workers

$13.21 per hour

Which of these three high-growth jobs is most automatable?

Web Developer
Personal Financial Advisor
Massage Therapist

Make a selection

Correct Answer: Web Developer

Not all high-growth or high-tech jobs require human know-how. Repetitive work done by web developers or technicians can be done efficiently and inexpensively by computers.

Phlebotomists

89.40% Automatable

108,060 U.S. Workers

24.9% projected growth (2014)

$14.67 per hour
Medical Secretaries

57.48% Automatable

512,560 U.S. Workers

20.5% projected growth (2014)

$15.36 per hour
Medical Assistants

54.36% Automatable

571,640 U.S. Workers

23.5% projected growth (2014)

$14.47 per hour
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

52.89% Automatable

88,910 U.S. Workers

23.1% projected growth (2014)

$21.57 per hour
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

48.06% Automatable

57,710 U.S. Workers

26.4% projected growth (2014)

$31.94 per hour
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

45.33% Automatable

50,970 U.S. Workers

22.2% projected growth (2014)

$26.23 per hour
Web Developers

42.58% Automatable

112,810 U.S. Workers

26.6% projected growth (2014)

$29.19 per hour
Speech-Language Pathologists

40.44% Automatable

125,050 U.S. Workers

21.3% projected growth (2014)

$34.41 per hour
Physical Therapist Assistants

37.11% Automatable

72,540 U.S. Workers

40.6% projected growth (2014)

$25.43 per hour
Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

35.48% Automatable

237,520 U.S. Workers

24.2% projected growth (2014)

$16.42 per hour
Physical Therapists

31.84% Automatable

195,580 U.S. Workers

34% projected growth (2014)

$39.58 per hour
Computer Systems Analysts

29.19% Automatable

507,120 U.S. Workers

20.9% projected growth (2014)

$37.66 per hour
Physician Assistants

26.78% Automatable

88,020 U.S. Workers

30.4% projected growth (2014)

$46.40 per hour
Mental Health Counselors

26.13% Automatable

115,560 U.S. Workers

19.6% projected growth (2014)

$21.29 per hour
Occupational Therapists

25.20% Automatable

108,390 U.S. Workers

26.5% projected growth (2014)

$37.37 per hour
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

25.01% Automatable

83,100 U.S. Workers

22.3% projected growth (2014)

$20.09 per hour
Personal Care Aides

23.60% Automatable

1,134,940 U.S. Workers

25.9% projected growth (2014)

$10.26 per hour
Nurse Practitioners

21.11% Automatable

113,280 U.S. Workers

35.2% projected growth (2014)

$45.84 per hour
Opticians, Dispensing

15.74% Automatable

68,360 U.S. Workers

23.7% projected growth (2014)

$16.73 per hour
Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychologists

11.75% Automatable

104,460 U.S. Workers

19.6% projected growth (2014)

$33.59 per hour
Personal Financial Advisors

12.30% Automatable

182,330 U.S. Workers

29.6% projected growth (2014)

$44.69 per hour
Healthcare Social Workers

11.15% Automatable

141,580 U.S. Workers

19.3% projected growth (2014)

$24.57 per hour
Home Health Aides

10.78% Automatable

802,860 U.S. Workers

38.1% projected growth (2014)

$10.92 per hour
Massage Therapists

9.49% Automatable

75,800 U.S. Workers

21.6% projected growth (2014)

$19.79 per hour
Operations Research Analysts

3.48% Automatable

72,670 U.S. Workers

30.2% projected growth (2014)

$37.34 per hour

Sources:

McKinsey Global Institute. (2017). A Future That Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014 Edition; Accessed 2017). Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Notes:

Chart 1 represents all U.S. occupations, as captured in the McKinsey Global Institute’s automation report.
Chart 2 represents the top 25 largest U.S. occupations as measured by total employees.
Chart 3 represents the top 25 fastest-growing U.S. occupations as measured by percentage growth, excluding occupations with less than 50,000 people employed.

Behind the Numbers

A robot has just moved into the cubicle next to you, and you’re wondering whether it will soon take your place. Experts say humans are better at jobs that require empathy, creativity or physical dexterity than our robot competitors. For instance, in the graphs above, empathetic nurses, creative CEOs and dextrous tree pruners are all on the low end when it comes to automatability, as measured by McKinsey. These core characteristics may determine how resistant a job is to automation more than pay, industry sector or skill level.

Are you the radiologist or the taxi driver?

Automatability is just a number. While it's useful to know how much of your job could be done by machines, it may be more useful to understand what piece of your job is robotizable. Is it the part that takes skill or the part that is rote?

For example, radiology and taxi driving — two jobs transformed by technology. Computers are starting to read medical images just as well as radiologists. But radiologists add value in other ways machines can’t: by communicating with patients and integrating medical information into diagnoses and treatment plans. This leaves radiologists with a skilled portion of work that cannot be automated, giving them a better shot at keeping their exclusive high-paying jobs.

On the other hand, we have the taxi driver whose job consists of two basic parts: navigating and driving. Years ago, taxi drivers had to study and memorize entire city maps, a specialized skill that allowed only the qualified few to make money. With the advent of GPS and smartphone apps, the navigation aspect has gone digital, allowing more people to become drivers, and in turn, drive down wages. Contrast that with the other piece of their job — pushing the gas pedal, hitting the brakes and turning the wheel — which doesn’t take much expertise. Most anyone can drive — hey, even computers are learning.

And then there’s demand

Let’s go back to our radiologist. One might assume new imaging machines will mean fewer radiologists, because a single radiologist can get more work done assisted by technology. This is where demand comes in. As technology allows radiology services to become faster and cheaper, more people might be able to access and pay for them. In other words, the demand for radiologists could go up and offset any lost work brought on by technology.

A similar demand dynamic took place with bank tellers from the 1970s to the early 2000s. ATMs became widespread, which could have spelled trouble for human bank tellers. Instead, the number of tellers grew. Because of ATMs, banks could afford to open new branches staffed by fewer tellers. But overall, more tellers were hired to serve more customers at more locations. If demand had stayed flat however, the ranks of bank tellers would have declined.

Of course there are other factors that determine whether a human or machine will be hired for the job. One is relative cost, meaning how much the boss has to pay a human versus a machine to get the work done. Even if a robot can feasibly do a task, it still has to make economic sense to install and use it. Another is social acceptability — whether society is willing to automate a job. For example, it may be a long time before we are comfortable with robo-judges, robo-legislators or robo-priests. Maybe. Maybe not.

The Road Trip

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Part 1: Jobs that are safe today

Part 2: The winners of tomorrow

Part 3: Rewiring the future

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Economic theory happily acknowledges that technology eradicates lots of jobs. Take, for example, the 98 percent of all farming jobs that were annihilated by machines over the last two centuries. We are taught that’s OK, because technology created more productive, higher-paying, less back-breaking and more interesting jobs. The farm workers got better work in factories and American standards of living went up. That’s the classic promise of technology, but does it hold up today?

Armed with this question and data from McKinsey, Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio and producer Katie Long drove across the Midwest — a region that has seen waves of competition from both globalization and automation — to search for jobs that technology can’t easily replace. They found a cop who says you’re better off getting pulled over by him than a robot, a composer who gets inspiration from a sofa and a woman who makes her living by continually evolving.

Along the way, they looked at how to train people for these robot-proof jobs in the near term. Plus, what happens in the long term when technological advancement goes from incremental to radical, putting most of us out of work?

Click on the player above to hear their journey or scroll through the photos below to meet the voices from their reporting.

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