Industry group, 5414
Specialized Design Services
151,930 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $82,650 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: 82 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 72%
- 14%
- 14%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 20% 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 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, 21%. Today's estimate: 27%.
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 88% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designers | 23,480 | 51% | 25 million | $64K |
| Interior Designers | 30,100 | 13% | 8 million | $68K |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 5,570 | 43% | 5 million | $80K |
| Office Clerks, General | 4,160 | 54% | 4.7 million | $44K |
| General and Operations Managers | 9,650 | 23% | 4.6 million | $112K |
| Project Management Specialists | 5,700 | 33% | 3.9 million | $86K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 2,070 | 78% | 3.3 million | $52K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 2,960 | 43% | 2.6 million | $50K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 1,370 | 64% | 1.8 million | $53K |
| Art Directors | 3,070 | 27% | 1.7 million | $108K |
| Printing Press Operators | 2,680 | 24% | 1.3 million | $43K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 770 | 53% | 847,246 | $45K |
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. 102 smaller jobs (17,840 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 95% 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.
- Use computer-aided drafting (CAD) and related software to produce construction documents.Interior Designers11 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Select or design, and purchase furnishings, art work, and accessories.Interior Designers8.8 million hours96% of the task within reach
- Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.Graphic Designers8.4 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.Graphic Designers8.3 million hours99% of the task within reach
- Design plans to be safe and to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).Interior Designers6.6 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Formulate environmental plan to be practical, esthetic, and conducive to intended purposes, such as raising productivity or selling merchandise.Interior Designers6.3 million hours94% of the task within reach
- Design spaces to be environmentally friendly, using sustainable, recycled materials when feasible.Interior Designers6.1 million hours96% of the task within reach
- Use computer software to generate new images.Graphic Designers5.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.Graphic Designers5.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Coordinate with other professionals, such as contractors, architects, engineers, and plumbers, to ensure job success.Interior Designers4.5 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.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services2,445,140 people24% now, 69% by 2028
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services1,872,730 people24% now, 65% by 2028
- Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services1,719,390 people18% now, 61% by 2028
- Legal Services1,224,710 people25% now, 62% by 2028
- Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services1,091,370 people34% now, 75% by 2028
- Scientific Research and Development Services931,790 people16% now, 57% by 2028
- Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services881,820 people26% now, 44% by 2028
- Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services481,600 people28% now, 65% 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