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Air Traffic Controllers vs Public Safety Telecommunicators

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Air Traffic Controllers and Public Safety Telecommunicators 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 Public Safety Telecommunicators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$144,580
$50,730
Employment · BLS OEWS
22,400
101,140
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
59th pct
97th pct

At a glance

Dimension Air Traffic Controllers Public Safety Telecommunicators
Median pay $144,580 $50,730
Employment 22,400 101,140
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.2%) About average (+3.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 2,200 10,700
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 · 97th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 59th pct · 31% of tasks 33rd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Automation-leaning (33.3%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes No

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, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Sharing, Near Vision, Speech Clarity, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Information Ordering, Speech Recognition, English Language, Coordination, Written Comprehension, Public Safety and Security, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Education and Training, Customer and Personal Service, Auditory Attention, Geography, Telecommunications, Social Perceptiveness, Written Expression.

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

  • Speed of Closure
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Transportation
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Far Vision
  • Category Flexibility
  • Time Management
  • Visualization

Specific to Public Safety Telecommunicators

  • Law and Government
  • Communications and Media
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Administrative
  • Service Orientation
  • Psychology
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Therapy and Counseling

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 , Document management software , Data base user interface and query software , Word processing software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software .

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

Specific to Public Safety Telecommunicators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Air Traffic Controllers or Public Safety Telecommunicators — 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 Public Safety Telecommunicators." 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-public-safety-telecommunicators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Air Traffic Controllers vs Public Safety Telecommunicators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-air-traffic-controllers-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators,
  title  = {Air Traffic Controllers vs Public Safety Telecommunicators},
  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-public-safety-telecommunicators}
}

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