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Air Traffic Controllers vs Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Air Traffic Controllers and Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Air Traffic Controllers Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$144,580
$48,880
Employment · BLS OEWS
22,400
211,000
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
59th pct
75th pct

At a glance

Dimension Air Traffic Controllers Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
Median pay $144,580 $48,880
Employment 22,400 211,000
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.2%) Declining (-0.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 2,200 18,500
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 59th pct High · 75th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 59th pct · 31% of tasks 88th pct · 49% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (50.0%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Problem Sensitivity, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Selective Attention, Active Listening, Deductive Reasoning, Speaking, Inductive Reasoning, Speed of Closure, Transportation, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Perceptual Speed, Time Sharing, Near Vision, Far Vision, Speech Clarity, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Information Ordering, Speech Recognition, English Language, Coordination, Written Comprehension, Public Safety and Security, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Category Flexibility, Customer and Personal Service, Time Management, Social Perceptiveness, Written Expression, Fluency of Ideas.

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Education and Training
  • Visualization
  • Auditory Attention
  • Geography
  • Telecommunications
  • Originality

Specific to Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

  • Administration and Management
  • Administrative
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Writing
  • Service Orientation
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Systems Analysis

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Data base user interface and query software , Word processing software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Expert system software .

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

Specific to Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Air Traffic Controllers or Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

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. "Air Traffic Controllers vs Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-dispatchers-except-police-fire-and-ambulance

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Air Traffic Controllers vs Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-dispatchers-except-police-fire-and-ambulance

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-air-traffic-controllers-vs-dispatchers-except-police-fire-and-ambulance,
  title  = {Air Traffic Controllers vs Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-dispatchers-except-police-fire-and-ambulance}
}

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