Telephone Operators
Provide information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories. Assist customers with special billing requests, such as charges to a third party and credits or refunds for incorrectly dialed numbers or bad connections. May handle emergency calls and assist children or people with physical disabilities to make telephone calls.
3,430 people do this job in the US. $41,740 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 64%
- 0%
- 36%
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, 49%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 63%. Today's estimate: 64%.
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 . 14 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 36% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 3 min2 min to 7 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 4 min3 min to 8 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 3 min2 min to 7 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Keep records of calls placed and received, and of related toll charges.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Update directory information.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 6 min3 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 2 min1 min to 4 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 2 min1 min to 3 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 4 min2 min to 8 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Promote company products, services, and savings plans when appropriate.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 2% | 4 min2 min to 10 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.
- Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service77% now, 77% by 2028
- Receptionists and Information Clerks83% now, 84% by 2028
- Telemarketers99% now, 100% by 2028
- Office Clerks, General58% now, 61% by 2028
- Customer Service Representatives67% now, 67% by 2028
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers11% now, 14% 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).