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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Rehabilitation Counselors?
Task-level automation exposure for Rehabilitation Counselors: 17 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
17 of 17 tasks scored
Median Salary
$46,850 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
94,740 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.2%
employment change
8,200 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$35,210 – $67,640
Highest medians
Wyoming $67,640
North Dakota $63,050
Alaska $61,590
Kentucky $58,540
Washington $58,050
Lowest medians
Arkansas $35,210
South Carolina $35,990
Oklahoma $38,260
Iowa $39,630
Nevada $40,120
State figures come from the 21-1015 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 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 58%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 14%
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
17 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) 13%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 76%
13 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 11%
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 →Constituent Tasks
#9205 · Core · 40% automatable
Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
decision support — AI drafts plans; clinician assesses and owns treatment
Develop treatment plans for patients or clients.
#9201 · Core · 38% automatable
Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
interpersonal — Treatment discussions require clinical presence
Confer with clients to discuss treatment plans or progress.
#9202 · Core · 78% automatable
Prepare and maintain records and case files, including documentation, such as clients' personal and eligibility information, services provided, narratives of client contacts, or relevant correspondence.
text generation — Maintain client records; human verifies accuracy
Maintain client records.
#9208 · Core · 43% automatable
Locate barriers to client employment, such as inaccessible work sites, inflexible schedules, or transportation problems, and work with clients to develop strategies for overcoming these barriers.
decision support — Home/work hazard assessment needs in-person inspection and judgment
Evaluate potential problems in home or work environments of clients. Assist clients in handling details of daily life.
#9204 · Core · 55% automatable
Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services.
decision support — Eligibility judgment from records, but accountability stays human
Evaluate characteristics of individuals to determine needs or eligibility.
#9200 · Core · 55% automatable
Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
text generation — Maintain client records; human verifies accuracy
Monitor clients to evaluate treatment progress. Maintain client records.
#9207 · Core · 30% automatable
Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
interpersonal — Facilitating program relationships is human networking
Develop working relationships with others to facilitate program activities.
#9206 · Core · 50% automatable
Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.
interpersonal — Counseling needs trust and accountability
Counsel clients regarding educational or vocational issues.
#9203 · Core · 45% automatable
Arrange for physical, mental, academic, vocational, and other evaluations to obtain information for assessing clients' needs and developing rehabilitation plans.
decision support — Arranging services involves human coordination and liability
Arrange physical or mental health services for clients.
#9212 · Core · 60% automatable
Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements.
data analysis — Outcome data analysis with human interpretation
Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling or educational programs. Refer individuals to educational or work programs.
#20234 · Core · 42% automatable
Manage budgets and direct case service allocations, authorizing expenditures and payments.
decision support — Program finance oversight is broad and accountability-bearing
Manage organizational or program finances.
#9210 · Core · 42% automatable
Confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals to develop and implement client rehabilitation programs.
interpersonal — Client assessment collaboration is professional judgment
Collaborate with other professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments.
#21178 · Core · 25% automatable
Supervise rehabilitation counselors and staff.
interpersonal — Patient care supervision is live clinical leadership
Supervise patient care personnel.
#9209 · Core · 45% automatable
Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments.
decision support — Arranging services involves human coordination and liability
Arrange physical or mental health services for clients.
#9213 · Core · 35% automatable
Collaborate with clients' families to implement rehabilitation plans, such as behavioral, residential, social, or employment goals.
interpersonal — Family conferencing is emotional and accountable
Confer with family members to discuss client treatment plans or progress.
#9214 · Core · 50% automatable
Collaborate with community agencies to establish facilities and programs for persons with disabilities.
interpersonal — Program collaboration needs human consensus-building
Collaborate with other professionals to develop education or assistance programs.
#9211 · Core · 55% automatable
Develop diagnostic procedures to determine clients' needs.
decision support — Diagnostic tools drafted; validation and ethics human
Develop tools to diagnose or assess needs.
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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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