Future History · Trends
Questions about jobs that need a list, not one occupation, answered from the same cited records as every timeline. Each figure names its source, and each row links to that job's full timeline.
Of the 25 largest jobs we track, BLS projects employment from 2025 to 2035 to grow in 15, to decline in 5 and to change by less than 1 percent in 5 (BLS Employment Projections 2025-35). Studies of AI exposure measure how much of a job's work AI could touch; none of them is a forecast of job losses.
Between May 2012 and May 2025, BLS OEWS counts fell for 145 and rose for 249 of the 394 jobs we can compare like for like. Retail salespersons lost the most: 4,340,000 in May 2012 and 3,897,860 in May 2025. BLS changed how it estimates these counts in May 2021, so part of a change across that year can come from the method rather than the work.
Of the jobs we track, 47 have no count from 1950 or earlier and no record as a distinct job before 1941. The largest today is medical assistants: BLS counted 817,870 in May 2025 (BLS OEWS).
Of the 135 jobs here that Frey and Osborne scored in 2013, they put 39 at a probability of computerisation of 0.90 or higher. By May 2025, 18 of those 39 employed more people than in May 2013 and 21 employed fewer, by BLS's count (BLS OEWS; change derived by Future History).
Occupations with the highest projected percent growth in employment over the coming decade. A high rate can come from a small base: the most jobs added list counts jobs instead.
Occupations BLS expects to add the most jobs from 2025 to 2035, counted in jobs rather than percent.
Timelines where our sources document the most distinct waves of tools. A count of documented eras, not a measure of how much a job changed.