AI exposure: Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products
Purchase machinery, equipment, tools, parts, supplies, or services necessary for the operation of an establishment. Purchase raw or semifinished materials for manufacturing. May negotiate contracts.
Reading this score
computed47.5% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products at the 86th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.8 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 19 tasks it averages 1.74 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support,..., at 93.3%. The least is Interview vendors and visit suppliers' plants and distribution centers to examine and learn..., at 8.3%. A gap of 85.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within business and financial operations occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 48 roles in the group is 47.1%, and only 23 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 19 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 3 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
19 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.16 | exposed |
| Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.20 | exposed |
| Review catalogs, industry periodicals, directories, trade journals, and Internet sites and consult with other department personnel to locate necessary goods and services. | 67.1% | 20.4% | 12.5% | 3.45 | exposed |
| Maintain and review computerized or manual records of purchased items, costs, deliveries, product performance, and inventories. | 64.2% | 23.3% | 12.5% | 3.74 | exposed |
| Study sales records and inventory levels of current stock to develop strategic purchasing programs that facilitate employee access to supplies. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.83 | exposed |
| Monitor shipments to ensure that goods come in on time, and resolve problems related to undelivered goods. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.59 | exposed |
| Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.55 | exposed |
| Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.40 | exposed |
| Confer with staff, users, and vendors to discuss defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.74 | exposed |
| Arrange the payment of duty and freight charges. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.00 | exposed |
| Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.85 | exposed |
| Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.40 | exposed |
| Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.05 | assisted |
| Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters. | 20.0% | 17.5% | 62.5% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Attend meetings, trade shows, conferences, conventions, and seminars to network with people in other purchasing departments. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.45 | untouched |
| Interview vendors and visit suppliers' plants and distribution centers to examine and learn about products, services, and prices. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 2.94 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.82 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.34 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.84 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.24 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.74 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.34 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.