Correspondence Clerks
In short: today's best AI models could do about 85% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 15% of the time, stays with people.
Compose letters or electronic correspondence in reply to requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit and other information, delinquent accounts, incorrect billings, or unsatisfactory services. Duties may include gathering data to formulate reply and preparing correspondence.
4,290 people do this job in the US. $46,800 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on34 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people6 h
Correspondence Clerks, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 34 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 6 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports (about 6 h); Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints (about 5 h); Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities (about 5 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 85%
- 8%
- 7%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 10%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 79%. Today's estimate: 85%.
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.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.4% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 60th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 6 of its 17 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.35% to 0.26% (released February and March 2025); 0.28% to 0.31% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.41% to 0.4% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.35% | 58 of 708 | 6 of 17 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.26% | 74 of 703 | 4 of 17 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.28% | 65 of 655 | 6 of 17 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.3% | 59 of 672 | 6 of 17 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.31% | 68 of 677 | 6 of 17 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.41% | 58 of 434 | 6 of 17 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.4% | 60 of 447 | 6 of 17 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 3% of this job's working time as physical work. For 3% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 3% in a purpose-built cell. 0.03 of 3, the 622nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 97%
- In a purpose-built cell 3%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 17 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Gather records pertinent to specific problems, review them for completeness and accuracy, and attach records to correspondence as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 11% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Ensure that money collected is properly recorded and secured.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, OPEX Eagle Remittance Processor (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Compose letters in reply to correspondence concerning such items as requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit information requests, delinquent accounts, incorrect billing, or unsatisfactory service.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Process orders for goods requested in correspondence.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Read incoming correspondence to ascertain nature of writers' concerns and to determine disposition of correspondence.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 7 min3 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Compile data pertinent to manufacture of special products for customers.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Present clear and concise explanations of governing rules and regulations.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Confer with company personnel regarding feasibility of complying with writers' requests.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Compute costs of records furnished to requesters, and write letters to obtain payment.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Office Clerks, General56% now, 56% by 2028
- File Clerks50% now, 53% by 2028
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive59% now, 68% by 2028
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants59% now, 60% by 2028
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks88% now, 90% by 2028
- Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants64% now, 71% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Correspondence Clerks is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 85% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 85% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Correspondence Clerks come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports (99% of the task's time now); Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints (100% of the task's time now); and Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Correspondence Clerks stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Ensure that money collected is properly recorded and secured; Present clear and concise explanations of governing rules and regulations; and Confer with company personnel regarding feasibility of complying with writers' requests. Together such tasks are about 15% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Correspondence Clerks?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.4% went to this job's tasks, the 60th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 6 of its 17 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 28%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Correspondence Clerks?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 3% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 3% of the working time. Its index is 0.03 of 3. One example: OPEX Eagle Remittance Processor for "ensure that money collected is properly recorded and secured". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 17 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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