The Workforce AI Index · Healthcare
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
Devices, diagnostics and nutrition by segment revenue. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-20. Ranked 27 of the 27 Healthcare companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
A healthcare manufacturer whose filing states one headcount and the share outside the U.S., so the devices, pharmaceutical and nutrition patterns follow segment revenue.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 17% now, 29% at the end of 2027, 35% at the end of 2028, 37% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 37% desk work, 14% people work and 49% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 60% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 32% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
115,000 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). 69% are employed outside the U.S., so about 31% are in it.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, Abbott employed approximately 115,000 people, 69% of whom were employed outside of the U.S.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing | 48% | By (c): the medical devices segment, 48% of revenue, makes cardiovascular, diabetes care and other devices, with no headcount by segment stated. |
| Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing | 32% | By (c): the diagnostic products (20% of revenue) and established pharmaceuticals (12%) segments make diagnostic substances and medicines, which BLS counts under pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing. |
| Other Food Manufacturing | 20% | By (c): the nutritional products segment, 19% of revenue, makes infant and adult nutrition products, food manufacturing, with no count of its own stated. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Women are 46% of the global workforce and 44% of managers; over 50,000 employees across 84 countries took part in the company's 2025 volunteer program.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX, 72,000 employees)18% now, 36% by 2028
- Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX, 59,000 employees)18% now, 42% by 2028
- Stryker Corporation (SYK, 56,000 employees)18% now, 39% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
1 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI once, among disruptive technologies that could change the competitive landscape of healthcare; it describes no use of its own.
- “Further, the development of new technologies, including disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, healthcare products and medicines, and the development of new treatments for disease could significantly change the competitive landscape of the healthcare industry and negatively impact the demand for certain Abbott products.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 115,000 | 2026-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 114,000 | 2025-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 114,000 | 2024-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 115,000 | 2023-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 113,000 | 2022-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 109,000 | 2021-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 107,000 | 2020-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 103,000 | 2019-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 99,000 | 2018-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 75,000 | 2017-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 74,000 | 2016-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 77,000 | 2015-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 69,000 | 2014-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 91,000 | 2013-02-15 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 91,000 | 2012-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 90,000 | 2011-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 73,000 | 2010-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 69,000 | 2009-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 68,000 | 2008-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 66,663 | 2007-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 59,735 | 2006-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 60,600 | 2005-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 72,200 | 2004-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 71,819 | 2003-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 71,426 | 2002-02-21 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | 60,571 | 2001-02-15 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 57,100 | 2000-03-14 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-12-31 | 56,236 | 1999-03-09 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | 54,487 | 1998-03-09 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-31 | 52,817 | 1997-03-11 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 50,241 | 1996-03-11 | 10-K405 |
| 1994-12-31 | 49,464 | 1995-03-10 | 10-K |
| 1993-12-31 | 49,659 | 1994-03-03 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- Pattern shares rest on revenue by segment (c): the filing states the total and the share outside the U.S., not headcount by segment.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-010185, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Abbott Laboratories's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 17% now and 35% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Abbott Laboratories's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Abbott Laboratories employ?
- 115,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 31% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Abbott Laboratories's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 37% desk work, 14% people work and 49% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Abbott Laboratories's annual report say about AI?
- 1 sentence in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.