Personal Care · SOC 39-9011
Caring for children is overwhelmingly physical, emotional, and high-stakes — well beyond current AI capability.
Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
Timeline: This role faces essentially no meaningful automation pressure from AI in the next decade — demand is set to rise as the workforce ages.
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$32,050 median pay
$38,750 median pay
$33,470 median pay
$34,800 median pay
$38,960 median pay
$36,020 median pay
Industry pages show which sectors this occupation feeds and the AI companies driving the shift.
AI job-risk card
Childcare Workers is resilient on AIFear. Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
AIFear.com
Our AI Fear Score for Childcare Workers is 10/100 (Resilient). Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
10 out of 100, based on an AI-model review of this occupation's O*NET tasks against what current AI can actually do.
Most exposed: Scheduling nap and meal routines, Logging daily activity records. Harder to automate: Supervising physical safety during play, Responding to distress and emotional needs, Diapering, feeding, and hands-on caregiving, Building trust with children over time.
Lean into Child development fundamentals, Behavioral management, Safety and first aid, Parent communication. Consider roles such as Early childhood educator or Pediatric occupational therapy aide or Family support specialist.
Tasks, skills and AI-exposure for this role were reviewed by an AI model against its O*NET task profile (curated roles use published research anchors). Pay and employment, where shown, are U.S. BLS OEWS (May 2024) figures. This is an estimate, not a prediction about any individual's job. Compare all occupations.