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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Economists?
Task-level automation exposure for Economists: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
57%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$124,720 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
17,790 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.7%
employment change
1,100 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 41 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$70,750 – $167,590
Highest medians
District of Columbia $167,590
New Jersey $167,550
Delaware $159,120
Maryland $144,680
Kansas $138,790
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $70,750
Kentucky $71,400
Louisiana $73,050
Nebraska $75,880
Arizona $79,610
State figures come from the 19-3011 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 57%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 60%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 13%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 8%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 4/100
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
14 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) 40%
5 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 47%
7 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 13%
2 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 →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 08/2024 · Occupational Expert
Construct and manage economic datasets.
- New 08/2024 · Occupational Expert
Present research at seminars and conferences.
- Revision 08/2024 · Occupational Expert
Review documents written by others, such as referee reports.
Replaced: Review documents written by others.
Constituent Tasks
#7536 · Core · 82% automatable
Study economic and statistical data in area of specialization, such as finance, labor, or agriculture.
information retrieval — AI can search and summarize literature, human curates
Review professional literature to maintain professional knowledge.
#7538 · Core · 55% automatable
Compile, analyze, and report data to explain economic phenomena and forecast market trends, applying mathematical models and statistical techniques.
data analysis — Forecasting is uncertain; human judgment on drivers
Forecast economic, political, or social trends.
#20052 · Core · 45% automatable
Study the socioeconomic impacts of new public policies, such as proposed legislation, taxes, services, and regulations.
data analysis — Analysis aided; study design and fieldwork human
Conduct research on social issues.
#21106 · Core · 54% automatable
Explain economic impact of policies to the public.
information retrieval — AI explains policies; human handles live questions
Explain regulations, policies, or procedures. Present information to the public.
#23988 · Core · 84% automatable
Revision
Review documents written by others.
text generation — Proofreading text for accuracy is core LLM strength
Review technical documents to plan work. Proofread documents, records, or other files to ensure accuracy.
#7537 · Core · 62% automatable
Provide advice and consultation on economic relationships to businesses, public and private agencies, and other employers.
decision support — Drafts advice; accountability and context owned by human
Advise others on business or operational matters.
#7539 · Core · 55% automatable
Formulate recommendations, policies, or plans to solve economic problems or to interpret markets.
decision support — Policy analysis drafted; political judgment human
Advise others on matters of public policy.
#7542 · Core · 32% automatable
Supervise research projects and students' study projects.
interpersonal — Trainee supervision is relational and accountability-bearing
Supervise trainees.
#20053 · Core · 72% automatable
Conduct research on economic issues, and disseminate research findings through technical reports or scientific articles in journals.
text generation — Reports drafted; presentations need human delivery
Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
#7540 · Core · 60% automatable
Develop economic guidelines and standards, and prepare points of view used in forecasting trends and formulating economic policy.
text generation — AI drafts standards; committee consensus and authority human
Establish standards for products, processes, or procedures.
#7544 · Core · 55% automatable
Teach theories, principles, and methods of economics.
text generation — Instruction content AI-assisted; live teaching human
Instruct college students in social sciences or humanities disciplines.
#7541 · Core · 15% automatable
Testify at regulatory or legislative hearings concerning the estimated effects of changes in legislation or public policy, and present recommendations based on cost-benefit analyses.
interpersonal — Testimony carries legal accountability and live presence
Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
#20051 · Core · 44% automatable
Provide litigation support, such as writing reports for expert testimony or testifying as an expert witness.
text generation — Reports drafted; presentations need human delivery
Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations. Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
#7543 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Forecast production and consumption of renewable resources and supply, consumption, and depletion of non-renewable resources.
data analysis — Forecasting is uncertain; human judgment on drivers
Forecast economic, political, or social trends.
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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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