AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Shampooers?

Task-level automation exposure for Shampooers: 4 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

28% weighted task index

4 of 4 tasks scored

Median Salary

$32,600 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

8,070 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+5.6% employment change

2,200 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 20 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$21,810 – $38,870

Highest medians

District of Columbia $38,870

California $37,080

New York $37,070

Maryland $34,900

Massachusetts $34,840

Lowest medians

Alabama $21,810

Tennessee $24,160

Michigan $25,960

North Carolina $26,030

Pennsylvania $26,130

State figures come from the 39-5093 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 28%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 58%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 55%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 20%

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 2/100 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

4 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) 20%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 22%

1 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 58%

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 06/2008 · Incumbent

Assist hair stylists with chemical services, such as neutralizing perms and applying hair color.
New 06/2008 · Incumbent

Launder and fold the towels that are used for drying customers' hair.
New 06/2008 · Incumbent

Refill and stock work stations with supplies, such as shampoos and conditioners.
New 06/2008 · Incumbent

Rinse out hair color or permanent solutions from customers' hair.
New 06/2008 · Incumbent

Sweep hair from the salon floor.

Constituent Tasks

#14818 · Core · 4% automatable

Massage, shampoo, and condition patron's hair and scalp to clean them and remove excess oil.

physical manipulation — Applying agents to hair and skin is hands-on care

Apply cleansing or conditioning agents to client hair, scalp, or skin. Administer therapeutic massages.

#14819 · Core · 50% automatable

Advise patrons with chronic or potentially contagious scalp conditions to seek medical treatment.

decision support — Medical/cosmetic advice needs accountable clinical judgment

Provide medical or cosmetic advice for clients.

#14820 · Core · 5% automatable

Treat scalp conditions and hair loss, using specialized lotions, shampoos, or equipment such as infrared lamps or vibrating equipment.

physical manipulation — Hair treatment application requires manual skill

Apply solutions to hair for therapeutic or cosmetic purposes.

#14821 · Supplemental · 72% automatable

Maintain treatment records.

text generation — Maintain client records; human owns sensitive judgment

Maintain client information or service records.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

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

See the full method →

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