Subsector, 488
Support Activities for Transportation
812,950 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $66,330 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: 427 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 38%
- 13%
- 50%
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: 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, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 23%. Today's estimate: 26%.
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 80% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cargo and Freight Agents | 62,270 | 45% | 58 million | $51K |
| Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance | 19,340 | 80% | 32 million | $47K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 23,750 | 64% | 32 million | $45K |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 27,300 | 43% | 24 million | $61K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 12,620 | 78% | 20 million | $51K |
| Office Clerks, General | 17,470 | 54% | 20 million | $43K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 67,720 | 14% | 19 million | $49K |
| Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks | 12,230 | 74% | 19 million | $39K |
| General and Operations Managers | 31,450 | 23% | 15 million | $118K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 19,130 | 35% | 14 million | $70K |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 65,950 | 9% | 12 million | $42K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 10,420 | 53% | 11 million | $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. 206 smaller jobs (158,810 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.
- Determine method of shipment and prepare bills of lading, invoices, and other shipping documents.Cargo and Freight Agents13 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare daily work and run schedules.Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance12 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel12 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand9.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Track delivery progress of shipments.Cargo and Freight Agents8.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Check import or export documentation to determine cargo contents and use tariff coding system to classify goods according to fee or tariff group.Cargo and Freight Agents8.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Oversee all communications within specifically assigned territories.Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Keep records of all goods shipped, received, and stored.Cargo and Freight Agents7.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Estimate freight or postal rates and record shipment costs and weights.Cargo and Freight Agents6.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Notify consignees, passengers, or customers of freight or baggage arrival and arrange for delivery.Cargo and Freight Agents6.6 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.
- Support Activities for Air Transportation272,420 people21% now, 29% by 2028
- Freight Transportation Arrangement251,630 people37% now, 55% by 2028
- Support Activities for Road Transportation114,040 people23% now, 29% by 2028
- Support Activities for Water Transportation94,920 people18% now, 29% by 2028
- Support Activities for Rail Transportation42,340 people15% now, 23% by 2028
- Other Support Activities for Transportation37,610 people24% now, 32% 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