The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Comparison

Occupational Therapists vs Registered Nurses

Occupational Therapists carries the higher exposed share at 22.7% against 20.4%, a gap of 2.3 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
Occupational Therapists22.7%27.6%49.7%0.500.58$100,330535assisted
Registered Nurses20.4%27.9%51.7%0.480.66$97,550585untouched

What stands in the way, in each

Occupational Therapists: the dominant friction is that checking the output costs about as much as producing it. Capability sits at 0.50 of 1 and friction at 0.58 of 1.

Registered Nurses: the dominant friction is that checking the output costs about as much as producing it. Capability sits at 0.48 of 1 and friction at 0.66 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.