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Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

Work activity group · O*NET

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public 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 2.90 of 5 — 28th percentile among all activity groups.

Intermediate activities it contains

The intermediate work activities O*NET groups under Performing for or Working Directly with the Public, ranked by how many occupations perform each. Each links to its own page.

Intermediate activity Occupations AI applied
Respond to customer problems or inquiries 78 100th pct
Present arts or entertainment performances 13 71st pct
Conduct amusement or gaming activities 4 78th 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 3 intermediate activities under Performing for or Working Directly with the Public that the study measured, this group ranks in the 83rd 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 Performing for or Working Directly with the Public. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2024 national medians.

Occupation Importance Median pay Employment
Park Naturalists 4.90 $67,950 25,590
Opticians, Dispensing 4.83 $46,560 79,690
Flight Attendants 4.81 $67,130 130,110
Funeral Home Managers 4.79 $76,830 13,120
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers 4.77 $76,290 666,990
Demonstrators and Product Promoters 4.74 $37,960 64,770
Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents 4.74 $59,740 53,530
Audiologists 4.73 $92,120 14,730
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks 4.72 $41,460 127,440
Retail Salespersons 4.71 $34,580 3,800,250
Emergency Medicine Physicians 4.71 — 33,680
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers 4.69 $49,800 25,700
Baggage Porters and Bellhops 4.68 $36,020 31,220
Bicycle Repairers 4.68 $40,360 12,590
Dentists, General 4.67 $172,790 113,490
Barbers 4.67 $38,960 18,100
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates 4.64 $156,210 25,580
Community Health Workers 4.62 $51,030 60,730
Travel Guides 4.62 — —
Fire Inspectors and Investigators 4.61 $78,060 14,050
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs 4.59 $51,500 156,260
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers 4.58 $92,430 93,680
Optometrists 4.57 $134,830 41,890
Animal Control Workers 4.56 $45,830 11,790
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians 4.55 $44,080 76,520
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 4.54 — 5,330
Massage Therapists 4.52 $57,950 96,040
First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers 4.51 $61,590 25,530
Occupational Therapy Aides 4.51 $37,370 5,000
Coroners 4.50 $78,420 397,770
Physical Therapist Aides 4.50 $34,520 44,010
Transit and Railroad Police 4.50 $82,320 3,000
Prosthodontists 4.50 — 760
Physical Therapist Assistants 4.46 $65,510 108,010
Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers 4.46 $34,530 4,590
Amusement and Recreation Attendants 4.45 $30,490 371,590
Photographers 4.45 $42,520 51,230
Radiation Therapists 4.45 $101,990 18,700
Counter and Rental Clerks 4.44 $38,540 398,620
Urologists 4.44 — 315,360
Detectives and Criminal Investigators 4.44 $93,580 110,790
Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys 4.44 $45,680 23,880
Critical Care Nurses 4.43 $93,600 3,282,010
Physical Therapists 4.43 $101,020 248,630
Health Education Specialists 4.43 $63,000 65,150
Child, Family, and School Social Workers 4.42 $58,570 382,960
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks 4.41 $34,270 261,430
Funeral Attendants 4.41 $34,610 30,560
Farm and Home Management Educators 4.41 $58,120 10,260
Gambling Change Persons and Booth Cashiers 4.40 $34,810 21,930
Customs and Border Protection Officers 4.39 $76,290 666,990
Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage 4.39 $76,650 7,790
Loan Interviewers and Clerks 4.38 $48,950 173,100
Public Safety Telecommunicators 4.38 $50,730 101,140
Obstetricians and Gynecologists 4.38 — 19,900
Orthotists and Prosthetists 4.38 $78,310 9,930
Subway and Streetcar Operators 4.38 $84,830 9,200
Baristas 4.37 $30,480 3,780,930
Customer Service Representatives 4.37 $42,830 2,725,930
Security Guards 4.37 $38,370 1,241,770

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. "Performing for or Working Directly with the Public." 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/performing-for-or-working-directly-with-the-public

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Performing for or Working Directly with the Public. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/performing-for-or-working-directly-with-the-public

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-performing-for-or-working-directly-with-the-public,
  title  = {Performing for or Working Directly with the Public},
  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/performing-for-or-working-directly-with-the-public}
}

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