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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Parts Salespersons?
Task-level automation exposure for Parts Salespersons: 19 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
47%
weighted task index
19 of 19 tasks scored
Median Salary
$38,630 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
270,070 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+3.0%
employment change
30,000 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$22,780 – $48,600
Highest medians
North Dakota $48,600
Colorado $47,660
Minnesota $47,030
Washington $46,830
Iowa $46,670
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $22,780
Guam $26,990
Virgin Islands $28,610
Louisiana $31,310
South Carolina $32,180
State figures come from the 41-2022 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 47%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 19%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 19%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 29%
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 3/100
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
19 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) 39%
7 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 38%
7 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 24%
5 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
#2430 · Core · 55% automatable
Receive payment or obtain credit authorization.
data analysis — Transaction processing software-driven; human handles exceptions
Process sales or other transactions.
#20776 · Core · 55% automatable
Assist customers, such as responding to customer complaints and updating them about back-ordered parts.
interpersonal — Technical explanation to customers needs live interaction
Explain technical product or service information to customers.
#20775 · Core · 65% automatable
Fill customer orders from stock, and place orders when requested items are out of stock.
decision support — Ordering via systems automatable; human approves spend
Process sales or other transactions. Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
#2427 · Core · 63% automatable
Receive and fill telephone orders for parts.
interpersonal — Order capture automatable; customer interaction partly human
Take product orders from customers. Process sales or other transactions.
#20777 · Core · 62% automatable
Locate and label parts, and maintain inventory of stock.
data analysis — System inventory monitoring automatable; physical audit human
Monitor inventories of products or materials.
#2429 · Core · 65% automatable
Prepare sales slips or sales contracts.
text generation — Draft contracts; legal terms human-owned
Prepare sales or other contracts.
#2425 · Core · 50% automatable
Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.
interpersonal — Customer needs discovery needs live interaction
Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
#2426 · Core · 50% automatable
Determine replacement parts required, according to inspections of old parts, customer requests, or customers' descriptions of malfunctions.
interpersonal — Customer needs discovery needs live interaction
Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
#2433 · Core · 39% automatable
Examine returned parts for defects, and exchange defective parts or refund money.
data analysis — Transaction processing software-driven; human handles exceptions
Examine condition of property or products. Process sales or other transactions.
#20780 · Core · 80% automatable
Manage shipments by researching shipping methods or costs and tracking packages.
data analysis — Shipping cost calculation from rates and weights
Analyze shipping information to make routing decisions. Calculate shipping costs.
#2434 · Core · 10% automatable
Mark and store parts in stockrooms, according to prearranged systems.
physical manipulation — Physically moving and shelving stock items
Stock products or parts.
#20779 · Core · 5% automatable
Maintain and clean work and inventory areas.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of work areas
Clean work areas.
#2437 · Core · 6% automatable
Place new merchandise on display.
physical manipulation — Setting up displays requires hands-on placement
Set up merchandise displays.
#2432 · Core · 70% automatable
Advise customers on substitution or modification of parts when identical replacements are not available.
information retrieval — Product-use advice is largely informational with review
Advise customers on the use of products or services.
#2435 · Core · 70% automatable
Discuss use and features of various parts, based on knowledge of machines or equipment.
information retrieval — Product-use advice is largely informational with review
Advise customers on the use of products or services.
#2436 · Core · 38% automatable
Demonstrate equipment to customers, and explain functioning of equipment.
interpersonal — Technical explanation to customers needs live interaction
Explain technical product or service information to customers. Demonstrate products to consumers.
#2438 · Core · 26% automatable
Measure parts, using precision measuring instruments, to determine whether similar parts may be machined to required sizes.
physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of material
Measure product or material dimensions.
#20778 · Core · 55% automatable
Pick up and deliver parts.
decision support — AI can arrange deliveries; exceptions need human handling
Arrange delivery of goods or services.
#2439 · Core · 10% automatable
Repair parts or equipment.
physical manipulation — Physical disassembly and reassembly of parts
Repair parts or assemblies.
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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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