The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Comparison

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand vs Motorboat Operators

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand carries the higher exposed share at 16.4% against 14.3%, a gap of 2.1 points. The difference is driven by friction: the work is similarly producible in both, and what differs is what stands in the way of letting a machine finish it. Release v2026.Q3.

OccupationExposedAssistedUntouchedCapabilityFrictionMedian payRankBand
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand16.4%7.0%76.6%0.230.31$40,240672untouched
Motorboat Operators14.3%16.9%68.8%0.310.62$47,520717untouched

What stands in the way, in each

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.23 of 1 and friction at 0.31 of 1.

Motorboat Operators: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.31 of 1 and friction at 0.62 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.