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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Childcare Workers?
Task-level automation exposure for Childcare Workers: 24 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
29%
weighted task index
24 of 24 tasks scored
Median Salary
$34,980 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Very High
518,910 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-2.0%
employment change
150,300 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$22,020 – $47,340
Highest medians
District of Columbia $47,340
Washington $41,680
Massachusetts $40,900
Colorado $40,750
California $40,020
Lowest medians
Guam $22,020
Mississippi $22,050
Puerto Rico $22,600
Alabama $22,720
Louisiana $22,900
State figures come from the 39-9011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 29%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 28%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 54%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 9%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 5/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
24 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 9%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 34%
8 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 57%
14 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#18756 · Core · 10% automatable
Maintain a safe play environment.
physical manipulation — Ensuring child physical safety requires presence
Arrange childcare or educational settings to ensure physical safety of children.
#2336 · Core · 38% automatable
Observe and monitor children's play activities.
situated mobility — Live monitoring of people in physical settings
Monitor activities of individuals to ensure safety or compliance with rules.
#18757 · Core · 45% automatable
Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
interpersonal — Child development discussion needs live human presence
Discuss child development and behavior with parents or guardians.
#2331 · Core · 25% automatable
Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
interpersonal — Comfort and encouragement need live emotional presence
Provide counsel, comfort, or encouragement to individuals or families.
#2332 · Core · 10% automatable
Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for people with disabilities.
physical manipulation — Hands-on support for special-needs individuals
Assist individuals with special needs.
#2333 · Core · 10% automatable
Sanitize toys and play equipment.
physical manipulation — Tool cleaning is physical manipulation
Clean tools or equipment.
#2346 · Core · 5% automatable
Dress children and change diapers.
physical manipulation — Physical care of children in real world
Provide for basic needs of children.
#2337 · Core · 72% automatable
Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
text generation — Maintain client records; human owns sensitive judgment
Maintain client information or service records.
#2335 · Core · 37% automatable
Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
interpersonal — Child development discussion needs live human presence
Monitor health or behavior of people or animals. Discuss child development and behavior with parents or guardians.
#2338 · Core · 40% automatable
Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
interpersonal — Hygiene teaching is interpersonal and situational
Teach health or hygiene practices.
#2342 · Core · 6% automatable
Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
physical manipulation — Arranging items is physical placement
Arrange items for use or display.
#18761 · Core · 60% automatable
Perform general administrative tasks, such as taking attendance, editing internal paperwork, and making phone calls.
text generation — Broad clerical tasks partly automatable, human oversees exceptions
Perform administrative or clerical tasks.
#18759 · Core · 55% automatable
Create developmentally appropriate lesson plans.
text generation — Drafts training programs; needs analysis and delivery human
Develop educational or training programs.
#2348 · Core · 10% automatable
Perform housekeeping duties, such as laundry, cleaning, dish washing, and changing of linens.
physical manipulation — Housekeeping is physical labor in varied spaces
Perform housekeeping duties.
#2339 · Core · 25% automatable
Read to children and teach them simple painting, drawing, handicrafts, and songs.
interpersonal — Daily living skills taught in person with feedback
Teach daily living skills or behaviors.
#18758 · Core · 5% automatable
Assist in preparing food and serving meals and refreshments to children.
physical manipulation — Hands-on meal preparation
Prepare foods or meals.
#2334 · Core · 25% automatable
Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books.
interpersonal — Daily living skills taught in person with feedback
Teach daily living skills or behaviors.
#18760 · Core · 55% automatable
Regulate children's rest periods.
decision support — Drafting schedules; family context needs human tailoring
Develop daily schedules for children or families.
#18762 · Core · 40% automatable
Organize and participate in recreational activities and outings, such as games and field trips.
interpersonal — Event organizing aided; logistics and presence human
Organize recreational activities or events.
#2344 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Sterilize bottles and prepare formulas.
physical manipulation — Tool cleaning is physical manipulation
Clean tools or equipment.
#2347 · Supplemental · 25% automatable
Help children with homework and school work.
interpersonal — Daily living skills taught in person with feedback
Teach daily living skills or behaviors.
#18763 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Provide care for children with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
interpersonal — Therapeutic mental health care is relational
Care for patients with mental illnesses.
#18764 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Perform general personnel functions, such as supervision, training, and scheduling.
decision support — Assignments drafted; accountability and negotiation human
Assign duties or work schedules to employees. Train service staff. Perform human resources activities.
#2349 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Accompany children to and from school, on outings, and to medical appointments.
situated mobility — Physically accompanying groups in real environments
Accompany individuals or groups to activities.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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