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Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Work activity group · O*NET

Making Decisions and Solving Problems is one of the 41 Generalized Work Activities at the top of O*NET's work-activity hierarchy — the broadest description of what people do on the job, sitting above the more specific intermediate and detailed work activities. Across the 894 occupations O*NET rates on it, it scores an average importance of 3.99 of 5 — 94th percentile among all activity groups.

Intermediate activities it contains

The intermediate work activities O*NET groups under Making Decisions and Solving Problems, ranked by how many occupations perform each. Each links to its own page.

Intermediate activity Occupations AI applied
Select materials or equipment for operations or projects 142 85th pct
Determine resource needs of projects or operations 77 66th pct
Determine operational methods or procedures 70 86th pct
Determine values or prices of goods or services 58 86th pct
Implement procedures or processes 55 88th pct
Diagnose health conditions or disorders 33 30th pct
Diagnose system or equipment problems 27 81st pct
Authorize business activities or transactions 23 6th pct
Edit written materials or documents 20 93rd pct
Alter audio or video recordings 8 34th pct
Make legal decisions 3 6th pct

How AI is applied to this activity group

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study measured how often an AI assistant performs each work activity in real Bing Copilot conversations. Averaged across the 11 intermediate activities under Making Decisions and Solving Problems that the study measured, this group ranks in the 60th percentile for how frequently AI is applied — a description of how AI is used today, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

The figure is the mean of the child activities' applied-percentiles; open any activity above to see its underlying Microsoft measurements. Every occupation blends many activities, so a high AI-applied rank for one group does not mean a job is being automated.

Occupations that rely on this activity group most

Ranked by O*NET importance rating (1–5) for Making Decisions and Solving Problems. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2024 national medians.

Occupation Importance Median pay Employment
Emergency Medicine Physicians 4.93 — 33,680
Sports Medicine Physicians 4.92 — 315,360
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates 4.91 $156,210 25,580
Neurologists 4.90 — 7,700
Allergists and Immunologists 4.88 — 315,360
Electrical Engineers 4.87 $111,910 188,790
Chief Executives 4.85 $206,420 211,850
Air Traffic Controllers 4.85 $144,580 22,400
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists 4.84 — —
Veterinarians 4.81 $125,510 80,630
Hospitalists 4.80 — 315,360
Pediatricians, General 4.80 $210,130 42,960
Optometrists 4.80 $134,830 41,890
Obstetricians and Gynecologists 4.80 — 19,900
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand 4.80 $41,690 11,850
Biologists 4.78 $93,330 59,710
Anesthesiologists 4.78 — 41,890
Transportation Engineers 4.77 $99,590 355,410
Marriage and Family Therapists 4.76 $63,780 65,870
Critical Care Nurses 4.75 $93,600 3,282,010
Treasurers and Controllers 4.75 $161,700 818,620
Urologists 4.75 — 315,360
Commercial Pilots 4.75 $122,670 51,830
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.73 $226,600 99,300
Power Distributors and Dispatchers 4.73 $107,240 9,180
Preventive Medicine Physicians 4.72 — 315,360
Physician Assistants 4.72 $133,260 155,540
Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric 4.72 — 12,110
Animal Control Workers 4.72 $45,830 11,790
Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers 4.71 $101,020 6,770
Wind Energy Operations Managers 4.70 $136,550 630,980
Media Technical Directors/Managers 4.70 $83,480 145,270
Video Game Designers 4.70 $98,090 111,400
Biochemists and Biophysicists 4.70 $103,650 34,520
Chemical Engineers 4.70 $121,860 20,330
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 4.69 $104,070 319,630
Industrial-Organizational Psychologists 4.68 $109,840 1,050
Recycling Coordinators 4.68 — —
Operations Research Analysts 4.67 $91,290 107,760
Education Administrators, Postsecondary 4.66 $103,960 176,420
Computer Hardware Engineers 4.66 $155,020 75,710
Psychiatrists 4.66 — 24,800
Funeral Home Managers 4.66 $76,830 13,120
Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses 4.65 $93,600 3,282,010
Coroners 4.65 $78,420 397,770
Security Managers 4.65 $104,690 141,090
Interior Designers 4.65 $63,490 69,580
Computer and Information Research Scientists 4.65 $140,910 38,480
Athletic Trainers 4.65 $60,250 28,950
Nurse Practitioners 4.64 $129,210 307,390
Human Resources Managers 4.64 $140,030 215,520
Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialists 4.64 $127,590 93,940
Neuropsychologists 4.64 $117,580 17,790
Sales Managers 4.63 $138,060 603,710
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians 4.63 — 315,360
Chief Sustainability Officers 4.63 $206,420 211,850
Robotics Engineers 4.63 $117,750 150,750
Dentists, General 4.63 $172,790 113,490
Insurance Underwriters 4.63 $79,880 107,820
Purchasing Managers 4.63 $139,510 81,240

Showing 60 of 894 occupations.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Making Decisions and Solving Problems." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/making-decisions-and-solving-problems

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Making Decisions and Solving Problems. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/making-decisions-and-solving-problems

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-making-decisions-and-solving-problems,
  title  = {Making Decisions and Solving Problems},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/making-decisions-and-solving-problems}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.