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STRATUSWORKFORCE SCAN
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Sector, 71

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation

2,765,320 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $52,170 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.

now
25%

of the paid hours. Estimate.

$44B

a year: 1.4 billion hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.

Kinds of work
  • 36%
  • 6%
  • 58%
4%

of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 21% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.

Across the US: 24% within reach now and 39% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.

Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 36% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 22%. Today's estimate: 25%.

0%10%20%30%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 1% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 1% within reacho1, December 2024: 1% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 3% within reacho3, April 2025: 8% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 9% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 12% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 12% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 14% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 14% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 22% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 25% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

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 77% of the people.

PeoplePay here
Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors219,05056%257 million$48K
Amusement and Recreation Attendants298,21020%127 million$31K
Receptionists and Information Clerks68,77083%119 million$32K
Customer Service Representatives63,63067%88 million$35K
Self-Enrichment Teachers50,73054%57 million$46K
Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel32,46069%46 million$38K
Office Clerks, General33,25058%40 million$42K
Coaches and Scouts64,62024%33 million$48K
General and Operations Managers84,98019%33 million$81K
Cashiers49,40030%31 million$32K
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks19,23076%31 million$48K
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers22,81048%23 million$48K

People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 354 smaller jobs (622,000 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 98% of the industry'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 industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.

  1. Plan routines, choose appropriate music, and choose different movements for each set of muscles, depending on participants' capabilities and limitations.Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
    104 million hours100% of the task within reach
  2. Evaluate individuals' abilities, needs, and physical conditions, and develop suitable training programs to meet any special requirements.Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
    97 million hours100% of the task within reach
  3. Record details of attendance, sales, receipts, reservations, or repair activities.Amusement and Recreation Attendants
    66 million hours100% of the task within reach
  4. Keep informed of shut-down and emergency evacuation procedures.Amusement and Recreation Attendants
    45 million hours100% of the task within reach
  5. Plan physical education programs to promote development of participants' physical attributes and social skills.Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
    44 million hours100% of the task within reach
  6. Plan, organize, and control the operations of a cocktail lounge or bar.Bartenders
    40 million hours100% of the task within reach
  7. Monitor participants' progress and adapt programs as needed.Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
    38 million hours100% of the task within reach
  8. Perform administrative support tasks, such as proofreading, transcribing handwritten information, or operating calculators or computers to work with pay records, invoices, balance sheets, or other documents.Receptionists and Information Clerks
    21 million hours100% of the task within reach
  9. Provide students with information and resources regarding nutrition, weight control, and lifestyle issues.Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
    18 million hours100% of the task within reach
  10. Collect payments from customers.Waiters and Waitresses
    16 million hours100% of the task within reach

Scan a typical company in this industry

The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.

Inside this industry

Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry'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