Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
Schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal installation, service, or emergency repairs rendered outside the place of business. Duties may include using radio, telephone, or computer to transmit assignments and compiling statistics and reports on work progress.
202,810 people do this job in the US. $50,340 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 94%
- 5%
- 1%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h 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, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 70%. Today's estimate: 80%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 12 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare daily work and run schedules.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 29% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Oversee all communications within specifically assigned territories.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 20% | 1.7 h50 min to 6.7 h | 65%Half by now | |
| Monitor personnel or equipment locations and utilization to coordinate service and schedules.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 13% | 42 min13 min to 1.7 h | 94%Half by now | |
| Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Record and maintain files or records of customer requests, work or services performed, charges, expenses, inventory, or other dispatch information.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Arrange for necessary repairs to restore service and schedules.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Determine types or amounts of equipment, vehicles, materials, or personnel required, according to work orders or specifications.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Receive or prepare work orders.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 1% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Order supplies or equipment and issue them to personnel.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 0.9% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Advise personnel about traffic problems, such as construction areas, accidents, congestion, weather conditions, or other hazards.Done daily by most who do it. | 0.7% | 4 min2 min to 17 min | Stays with people |
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.
- First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants37% now, 54% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators51% now, 57% by 2028
- Public Safety Telecommunicators47% now, 90% by 2028
- Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters32% now, 33% by 2028
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks63% now, 86% by 2028
- Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors30% now, 30% 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).