Career Explorer Office and admin
Changing shape
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance
Schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal installation, service, or emergency repairs rendered outside the place of business. Duties may include using radio, telephone, or computer to transmit assignments and compiling statistics and reports on work progress.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 7% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.7% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on emotional intelligence and ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $50,340
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.7%
- Openings a year
- 16,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 204,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Respond to customer problems or inquiries
- Prepare documentation for contracts, applications, or permits
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Schedule operational activities
- Assign work to others
- Maintain operational records
What the work looks like
- Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.
- Prepare daily work and run schedules.
- Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.
- Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.
- Oversee all communications within specifically assigned territories.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as streamlined and automated dispatch systems process relatively simple transactions with less input from dispatchers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerksChanging shape, Index 18, +2.5%
- TellersChanging shape, Index 11, -13.2%
- Eligibility interviewers, government programsChanging shape, Index 9, +1.6%
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerksChanging shape, Index 22, +1.8%
Also known as: City Dispatcher, Dispatcher (Dispatch), Taxi Dispatcher, Train Dispatcher, Aircraft Dispatcher, Charter Coordinator, Mine Dispatcher, Paratransit Dispatcher.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.