Bartenders vs Fast Food and Counter Workers
Bartenders carries the higher exposed share at 22.3% against 18.9%, a gap of 3.4 points. The difference is driven by both capability and friction: the two jobs differ in what a system can produce and in what stops it, by roughly the same amount. Release v2026.Q3.
| Occupation | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Capability | Friction | Median pay | Rank | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bartenders | 22.3% | 11.2% | 66.5% | 0.34 | 0.39 | $34,340 | 540 | untouched |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 18.9% | 7.2% | 73.9% | 0.26 | 0.32 | $31,200 | 621 | untouched |
What stands in the way, in each
Bartenders: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.34 of 1 and friction at 0.39 of 1.
Fast Food and Counter Workers: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.26 of 1 and friction at 0.32 of 1.
Capability asks whether a generally available system can produce the work product at all. Friction asks what stops it finishing the job: physical work, being present, being accountable, unseen context, or the cost of checking the output. The rubric is here.
Read each in full
Exposure is not displacement. A higher score does not rank two jobs by how safe they are, and nothing here models adoption, employment or pay.