Metro area, West Virginia
Beckley, WV
43,080 people work in this area, at mean pay of $52,300 a year (BLS, May 2025), in every industry. What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 17 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 31%
- 17%
- 51%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 18% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this area's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 22%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 61% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representatives | 600 | 64% | 803,712 | $35K |
| Registered Nurses | 1,320 | 28% | 763,278 | $79K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 450 | 78% | 726,337 | $43K |
| Office Clerks, General | 600 | 54% | 677,664 | $34K |
| Retail Salespersons | 1,410 | 19% | 568,963 | $28K |
| Cashiers | 1,230 | 19% | 473,304 | $25K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 490 | 43% | 434,180 | $39K |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 350 | 59% | 428,064 | $30K |
| General and Operations Managers | 900 | 23% | 426,819 | $80K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | 450 | 40% | 378,145 | $30K |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 840 | 19% | 331,968 | $31K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers | 560 | 28% | 328,475 | $39K |
People: BLS counts for this area, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this area, else its mean, else the national median. 182 smaller jobs (14,500 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 87% of the area's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole area, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Registered Nurses221,162 hours60% of the task within reach
- Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions.Cashiers180,853 hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.Retail Salespersons170,850 hours50% of the task within reach
- Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.Registered Nurses151,392 hours100% of the task within reach
- Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Office Clerks, General150,284 hours100% of the task within reach
- Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks146,344 hours100% of the task within reach
- Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.Customer Service Representatives135,795 hours100% of the task within reach
- Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records.Cashiers128,867 hours100% of the task within reach
- Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers.Customer Service Representatives125,249 hours100% of the task within reach
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to improve professional competence.Substitute Teachers, Short-Term121,505 hours100% of the task within reach
Other areas in West Virginia
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Northern West Virginia nonmetropolitan area145,750 people21% now, 32% by 2028
- Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH140,740 people23% now, 34% by 2028
- Charleston, WV103,450 people23% now, 36% by 2028
- Southern West Virginia nonmetropolitan area75,980 people21% now, 30% by 2028
- Morgantown, WV67,370 people23% now, 37% by 2028
- Wheeling, WV-OH58,130 people22% now, 31% by 2028
- Parkersburg-Vienna, WV36,280 people22% now, 32% by 2028
- Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH36,220 people21% now, 30% by 2028
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this area; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the area's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works