# Project Management Specialists

US SOC code 13-1082. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/13-1082

Also called: Project manager, PM, Program manager, Project coordinator, Project lead.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **1,066,670** US project management specialists, with median pay of **$102,320** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-management-certification-history-development-4941) of **150,000** from 1984, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for project management specialists: Cloud-based collaborative PM platforms, 2012 to 2023.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 6.7% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=13-1082&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **40%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Project Management Specialists employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1917
- Latest US employment: 1,066,670 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [3]
- Latest US median pay: $102,320 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: +6.7% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [25]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **United Kingdom** (UK SOC 2440)
  - Employment, 2025: 291,000. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [6]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 2440 Business and financial project management professionals, United Kingdom, 2025 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
  - Median pay, 2025: £57,874. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [13]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 2440 Business and financial project management professionals, United Kingdom, 2025. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- **Australia** (ANZSCO 5111)
  - Employment, 2025: 153,100. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey [7]. ABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 5111 Contract, Program and Project Administrators, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
  - Median pay, 2025: A$110,760. Source: ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 [14]. Annualised (x52) from A$2,130 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.

### All 7 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1984 | 150,000 (estimate) | $32,000 (estimate) | Est., PMI (employment) [1]; Est., PMI (pay) [8] |
| 1995 | 400,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., PMI [2] |
| 2021 | 743,860 | $94,500 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [3] |
| 2022 | 843,910 | $95,370 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [3] |
| 2023 | 947,630 | $98,580 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [3] |
| 2024 | 1,006,160 | $100,750 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [3] |
| 2025 | 1,066,670 | $102,320 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [3] |

## Sources (61)

### Employment series

1. [PMI — History of PMP Certification Development (PMP launched 1984 with 43 first passers)](https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-management-certification-history-development-4941), Project Management Institute
2. [PMI — Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027 (historical context on profession growth)](https://www.pmi.org/learning/careers/job-growth), Project Management Institute
3. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
4. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2424, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip)
5. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2440, United Kingdom, 2022. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), Office for National Statistics
6. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2440, United Kingdom, 2025. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip), Office for National Statistics
7. [ABS: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, table EQ08 (Employed persons by Occupation unit group, ANZSCO 2013), latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release), Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Wage series

8. [PMI — Certification program and career framework history (salary survey context)](https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/certification-program-project-management-growth-4943), Project Management Institute
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
11. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2424, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip)
12. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2440, United Kingdom, 2022. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), Office for National Statistics
13. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2440, United Kingdom, 2025. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip), Office for National Statistics
14. [Jobs and Skills Australia: Contract, Program and Project Administrators (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025)](https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-and-industry-profiles/occupations/5111-contract-program-and-project-administrators), Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Tool eras

15. [Gantt Chart History — GanttChart.com (Henry Gantt, WWI mobilization use)](https://ganttchart.com/history_of_the_gantt_chart/), GanttChart.com
16. [Booz Allen Hamilton — How PERT Transformed Project Management (Polaris program, 1957-1958)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260710082911/https://www.boozallen.com/about/our-heritage/how-pert-transformed-project-management.html), Booz Allen Hamilton
17. [Wikipedia — Timeline of project management (CPM and PERT development, 1957-1958)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_project_management), Wikipedia
18. [Project Manager — History of PMI (founding 1969, PMP 1984, membership growth)](https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/history-of-pmi), ProjectManager.com
19. [Wikipedia — Project Management Institute (PMBOK 1987, PMP history, membership)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Institute), Wikipedia
20. [History of Project Management Software — FinancesOnline (Microsoft Project 1984, Primavera 1983)](https://project-management-software.financesonline.com/history-of-project-management-software-how-it-developed/), FinancesOnline
21. [Agile Alliance — Agile Manifesto (signed February 13, 2001, Snowbird, Utah)](https://agilealliance.org/agile101/the-agile-manifesto/), Agile Alliance
22. [History of Project Management Software — Digital Project Manager (Asana, Monday.com, Jira SaaS timeline)](https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-management/history-of-project-management-software/), The Digital Project Manager
23. [FindSkill.ai — Will AI Replace Project Managers in 2026? (54% of PM week is administrative; AI tools handle it)](https://findskill.ai/blog/will-ai-replace-project-managers-2026/), FindSkill.ai
24. [Otter.ai — OtterPilot saves 5.3 hours per user per week (Forrester Total Economic Impact Study, 2025)](https://otter.ai/), Otter.ai

### Forecasts and exposure studies

25. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 13-1082 Project management specialists (2025: 1,094.3 thousand; 2035: 1,167.4 thousand; +6.7%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=13-1082&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
26. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 13-1082.00, human-rated β 0.4)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

27. [Gantt Chart History — GanttChart.com (Henry Gantt, 1910-1917, WWI application)](https://ganttchart.com/history_of_the_gantt_chart/), GanttChart.com
28. [Manhattan Project Begins 1942 — Atomic Heritage Foundation](https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/manhattan-project-begins-1942/), Atomic Heritage Foundation
29. [Booz Allen Hamilton — How PERT Transformed Project Management](https://web.archive.org/web/20260710082911/https://www.boozallen.com/about/our-heritage/how-pert-transformed-project-management.html), Booz Allen Hamilton
30. [Project Manager — A History of PMI and Its Role in Project Management](https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/history-of-pmi), ProjectManager.com
31. [PMI — Project Management Certification: History of Development (first exam October 6, 1984)](https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-management-certification-history-development-4941), Project Management Institute
32. [Wikipedia — Project Management Institute (PMBOK Guide, first edition 1996)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Institute), Wikipedia
33. [Agile Alliance — The Agile Manifesto (signed February 13, 2001)](https://agilealliance.org/agile101/the-agile-manifesto/), Agile Alliance
34. [BLS OEWS — 13-1082 Project Management Specialists (2018 SOC code introduction)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes131082.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
35. [PMI — CPMAI Certification (Certified in AI in Project Management, launched 2025)](https://www.pmi.org/certifications/ai-project-management-cpmai), Project Management Institute

### Predecessors & successors

36. [PMI — The Stage for a New Profession: History of Project Management Practices](https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/history-pm-practices-3544), Project Management Institute
37. [Agile Alliance — Agile Manifesto history (developers transitioning to Scrum Master and PM roles)](https://agilealliance.org/agile101/the-agile-manifesto/), Agile Alliance

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Project Management Specialists (13-1082.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-1082.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [FindSkill.ai — Will AI Replace Project Managers in 2026? (Apr 2026)](https://findskill.ai/blog/will-ai-replace-project-managers-2026/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BCG — AI Will Reshape More Jobs Than It Replaces (Apr 2026)](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2026/ai-will-reshape-more-jobs-than-it-replaces), accessed 2026-05-23
- [PMI — Artificial Intelligence in Project Management (2025 survey)](https://www.pmi.org/learning/ai-in-project-management), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Project Management Specialists (2024)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/project-management-specialists.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Smartsheet — 2026 Project and Portfolio Management Priorities Report](https://www.smartsheet.com/ppm-priorities-report-2026), accessed 2026-05-23
- [ScienceDirect — Beyond replacement: How project managers perceive the transformative role of AI (2025)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0923474825000682), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Asana — Smart Status: AI-generated project status updates for stakeholders](https://help.asana.com/s/article/smart-status?language=en_US), accessed 2026-05-23
- [ClickUp Brain — Super Agents draft sprint summaries and weekly status updates from task data (ClickUp 4.0, Dec 2025)](https://clickup.com/brain), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Otter.ai — OtterPilot saves 5.3 hours per user per week (Forrester Total Economic Impact Study, 2025)](https://otter.ai/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Procore — Launches Procore AI with RFI Creation Agent, Daily Log Agent (Groundbreak 2025)](https://www.procore.com/press/procore-launches-procore-ai-with-new-agents-to-boost-construction-management-efficiency), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Procore — $300M+ R&D investment in 2025 prioritising Procore Copilot for RFIs, submittals, contracts](https://www.procore.com/press/procore-advances-the-future-of-construction-with-new-ai-innovations), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.