Sector, 51
Information
2,879,620 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $115,030 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.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 1.7 billion hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 68%
- 13%
- 19%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 17% 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
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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 23%. Today's estimate: 28%.
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 75% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 194,880 | 69% | 278 million | $77K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 107,140 | 67% | 148 million | $48K |
| Software Developers | 347,380 | 11% | 82 million | $166K |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 75,450 | 42% | 66 million | $65K |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | 89,530 | 28% | 53 million | $201K |
| Editors | 53,620 | 46% | 51 million | $78K |
| Project Management Specialists | 50,030 | 45% | 46 million | $117K |
| Advertising Sales Agents | 38,920 | 54% | 43 million | $61K |
| Producers and Directors | 87,630 | 23% | 42 million | $95K |
| Office Clerks, General | 31,210 | 58% | 38 million | $44K |
| General and Operations Managers | 92,580 | 19% | 36 million | $139K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 22,270 | 76% | 35 million | $52K |
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. 279 smaller jobs (712,770 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 99% 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.
- Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.Software Developers97 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.Software Developers96 million hours99% of the task within reach
- Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel83 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Identify prospective customers using business directories, leads from clients, or information from conferences or trade shows.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel60 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcomes and consequences of design.Software Developers55 million hours38% of the task within reach
- Determine system performance standards.Software Developers52 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists48 million hours90% of the task within reach
- Attend sales or trade meetings or read related publications to obtain information about market conditions, business trends, regulations, or industry developments.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel47 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.Software Developers47 million hours99% of the task within reach
- Store, retrieve, and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements.Software Developers37 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.
- Publishing Industries910,660 people28% now, 71% by 2028
- Telecommunications591,190 people30% now, 54% by 2028
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services485,550 people30% now, 72% by 2028
- Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries374,240 people20% now, 46% by 2028
- Broadcasting and Content Providers343,200 people30% now, 69% by 2028
- Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services174,790 people25% now, 67% by 2028
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