Procurement Clerks
In short: today's best AI models could do about 72% 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 conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 28% of the time, stays with people.
Compile information and records to draw up purchase orders for procurement of materials and services.
55,810 people do this job in the US. $50,580 a year.
Reviewed on October 18, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on7 h
- A person checks AI's work22 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people11 h
Procurement Clerks, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 7 hours, 22 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 11 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Perform buying duties (about 4 h, a person checks); Compare bids (about 3 h, a person checks); Maintain purchasing files and reports (about 3 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.
- 41%
- 31%
- 23%
- 0%
- 5%
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.
What handing it over would take, now
The 72% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 57%. Today's estimate: 72%.
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, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.012% to 0.0089% (released February and March 2025); 0.0099% to 0.022% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.012% | 515 of 708 | 4 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0089% | 525 of 703 | 4 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0099% | 453 of 655 | 3 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.016% | 417 of 672 | 4 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.022% | 391 of 677 | 6 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
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 623rd 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.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
28% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Find and interview suppliers, the conversation, 5%
- Train and supervise staff, the conversation, 5%
- Know and explain purchasing rules, the conversation, 4%
- Perform buying duties, the conversation, 4%
- Check arriving shipments, the hands-on work, 2%
- Expedite deliveries with suppliers, the conversation, 2%
What becomes checking the machine
55% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it. Another 17% is desk work that is small if wrong, which can be handed over with lighter checks.
- Perform buying duties, costly if wrong, 9%
- Compare bids, costly if wrong, 8%
- Find and interview suppliers, costly if wrong, 5%
- Cost orders and code invoices, costly if wrong, 5%
- Check stock and reorder, costly if wrong, 4%
- Know and explain purchasing rules, costly if wrong, 4%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 41% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Running AI inside the business systems. About 31% of the time is work inside business systems, which a model can do only once it is connected: knowing the systems well enough to set that up and watch it.
- Dealing with people outside the organization. Customers, patients, suppliers or the public: trust with them is built by a person.
- The conversations. About 23% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 19 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform buying duties when necessary.Comparing quotes, placing orders and talking with suppliers when the buyer is away.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 50 min13 min to 2.5 h | Documents 40%, systems 30%, conversation 30% | 69%Desk part half by now |
| Locate suppliers, using sources such as catalogs and the internet, and interview them to gather information about products to be ordered.Searching catalogs and the web for suppliers and calling them about their products.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 11% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Documents 50%, conversation 50% | 49%Desk part half by now |
| Maintain knowledge of all organizational and governmental rules affecting purchases, and provide information about these rules to organization staff members and to vendors.Keeping up with the purchasing rules and explaining them to staff and vendors.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Documents 50%, conversation 50% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.Weighing prices, specifications and delivery dates across the bids.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Prepare, maintain, and review purchasing files, reports and price lists.Keeping the purchasing files, reports and price lists current.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 50 min13 min to 2.5 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 99%Half by now |
| Train and supervise subordinates and other staff.Day to day conversation with a desk team, and checking their work.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Conversation 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Prepare invitation-of-bid forms, and mail forms to supplier firms or distribute forms for public posting.Filling in the invitation forms and mailing or posting them.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Documents 70%, hands-on 30% | 70%Desk part half by now |
| Track the status of requisitions, contracts, and orders.Following each requisition, contract and order through the purchasing system.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Systems 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Calculate costs of orders, and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts.Working out the order's cost and charging the invoice to its account.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | Systems 70%, documents 30% | 100%Half by now |
| Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.Checking quantities against needs and placing orders with suppliers.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 100%Half by now |
| Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.Building the purchase order in the system and sending it to the supplier and the requester.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Systems 80%, documents 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Check shipments when they arrive to ensure that orders have been filled correctly and that goods meet specifications.Counting and looking over what arrived against the order.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Robotic measurement cell (robot + Mitutoyo CMM, Engineering Data integration) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 70%, documents 30% | 30%Desk part 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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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.
- Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products60% now, 62% by 2028
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks53% now, 53% by 2028
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks72% now, 73% by 2028
- Stockers and Order Fillers19% now, 19% by 2028
- Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products39% now, 40% by 2028
- Order Clerks55% now, 55% 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 Procurement Clerks is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 72% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 72% 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 Procurement 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: Perform buying duties (69% of the task's time now); Compare bids (100% of the task's time now); and Maintain purchasing files and reports (99% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Procurement Clerks stay with people?
- Every task has a desk part, so each can come partly within reach; the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of each task stay with people, about 28% of the working time.
- What should Procurement Clerks learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and running AI inside the business systems. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 28% of the working time stays with people, 55% becomes checking a model's work and 17% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Procurement Clerks?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 24%. 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 Procurement 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: Robotic measurement cell (robot + Mitutoyo CMM, Engineering Data integration) for "check arriving shipments". 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 19 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 18, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), 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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