Administrative Assistant vs Construction Laborer: which is more exposed to AI?
69 points apart. These are not comparable risk profiles.
Administrative Assistant sits at 84% time-weighted AI exposure against 15% for Construction Laborer, a 69-point gap driven by the 56% of administrative assistant work time that current models can already substitute outright. Construction Laborer holds a larger human-critical core — 92% of the role's time sits in work like "use hand and power tools" that models score poorly on. The two sit in different families — Office & Administrative and Trades & Construction — so any move between them is a career change, not a lateral step.
Seven dimensions, side by side.
What actually creates the gap.
Administrative Assistants spend 56% of their time-weighted week on tasks a current model can produce end-to-end, against 0% for Construction Laborers. The single largest contributor is "schedule meetings and manage calendars", graded at 91% and worth 18% of the role's time. That one task accounts for more of the gap than any difference in seniority, tooling, or industry.
- Schedule meetings and manage calendars91% · 18% time
- Draft emails, memos, and documents88% · 16% time
- Prepare meeting notes and summaries86% · 10% time
- Organize files and maintain records84% · 12% time
- Handle confidential judgment calls14% · 4% time
- Support executives and teams in person18% · 8% time
- Screen sensitive calls and visitors24% · 10% time
- Use hand and power tools4% · 24% time
- Move materials and prepare work areas6% · 28% time
- Assist skilled trades on-site8% · 18% time
Both roles lean on procedural, judgement — that is the part of your experience that travels intact. The real divide is manual: Construction Laborers score 98 there against 18 for Administrative Assistants, an 80-point spread. That is the gap you would actually have to close.
| DIMENSION | ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT | CONSTRUCTION LABORER |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | 18 | 98 |
| Cognitive | 58 | 32 |
| Social | 68 | 48 |
Neither role lists the other as a mapped adjacent career, and the capability profiles sit 36 points apart on average. Treat a move between them as a genuine career change with a retraining cost, not as a hedge against AI exposure.
Score your own exposure in 8 questions →Common questions.
Is Administrative Assistant or Construction Laborer more at risk from AI?
Administrative Assistant. It scores 84% time-weighted AI exposure against 15% for Construction Laborer — a 69-point gap. 56% of administrative assistant work time is already fully substitutable by current models, versus 0% for Construction Laborers.
Which pays more, Administrative Assistant or Construction Laborer?
They are level. Both roles carry a median of $46k. Administrative Assistant ranges $34k–$68k; Construction Laborer ranges $34k–$72k.
Can a administrative assistant switch to being a construction laborer?
Neither role lists the other as a mapped adjacent career, and the capability profiles sit 36 points apart on average. Treat a move between them as a genuine career change with a retraining cost, not as a hedge against AI exposure.
Which role is growing faster, Administrative Assistant or Construction Laborer?
Construction Laborer, at 4% projected ten-year growth versus -8% — a 12-point difference. Growth and AI exposure are separate signals: a role can grow in headcount while the content of the work is substantially rewritten.