Counter and Rental Clerks vs Retail Salespersons
Counter and Rental Clerks carries the higher exposed share at 49.4% against 44.1%, a gap of 5.3 points. The difference is driven by capability: a current system can simply produce more of the first job's work product than the second's. Release v2026.Q3.
| Occupation | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Capability | Friction | Median pay | Rank | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counter and Rental Clerks | 49.4% | 22.6% | 28.0% | 0.72 | 0.34 | $41,300 | 114 | exposed |
| Retail Salespersons | 44.1% | 18.9% | 37.0% | 0.63 | 0.31 | $35,410 | 194 | exposed |
What stands in the way, in each
Counter and Rental Clerks: the dominant friction is that it runs on knowledge of the organisation that a model cannot hold. Capability sits at 0.72 of 1 and friction at 0.34 of 1.
Retail Salespersons: the dominant friction is that it runs on knowledge of the organisation that a model cannot hold. Capability sits at 0.63 of 1 and friction at 0.31 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.