The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Comparison

Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers vs Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers carries the higher exposed share at 28.4% against 25.1%, a gap of 3.4 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
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers28.4%14.5%57.1%0.430.34$61,770456untouched
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers25.1%13.5%61.5%0.390.43$58,640491untouched

What stands in the way, in each

Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.43 of 1 and friction at 0.34 of 1.

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.39 of 1 and friction at 0.43 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.