HUMANPLACE

Occupation

Air Traffic Controllers

Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport, and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers, according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.

91 AI exposure
30 Human advantage
54 Market demand
64 AI leverage

Is Air Traffic Controllers a safe career from AI?

Air Traffic Controllers scores 91 out of 100 for AI exposure, which is high. A large share of this work is the kind current AI systems are measurably good at. That is not a prediction the job disappears, and the research does not support one. It means more of this role is likely to change than most.

Its human advantage score is 30, which is low. Most of this role can be done through a screen, and that is the half of the labor market AI has reached first. Market demand scores 54 out of 100, combining how many of these jobs exist with where that number is heading. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment roughly flat over ten years.

What Air Traffic Controllers pay

The median wage is $144,580 a year. The lower quarter earns under $101,150 and the upper quarter over $186,510. About 22,400 people do this work in the United States.

Where Air Traffic Controllers can go next

Occupations that share most of what this job already requires, ranked by how much carries over.

Information Security Analysts 81% of the skills carry over $125k median
Orthoptists 83% of the skills carry over $114k median
Computer Network Architects 78% of the skills carry over $130k median
Medical Dosimetrists 78% of the skills carry over $138k median

Thinking about moving out of Air Traffic Controllers?

Answer three questions and see which jobs you could move into, what carries over from your own experience, and who is hiring.

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Where this comes from

Work content and transitions from O*NET, the US Department of Labor's occupational database. Wages and employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. AI exposure from published research measuring which occupations current AI capabilities overlap with. None of it is a forecast, and none of these numbers are ours: they are public data, put next to each other.

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