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Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants vs Medical Assistants

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants and Medical Assistants 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.”

Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Medical Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$44,640
$44,200
Employment · BLS OEWS
830,760
793,460
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
63rd pct
18th pct

At a glance

Dimension Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Medical Assistants
Median pay $44,640 $44,200
Employment 830,760 793,460
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.2%) Growing fast (+12.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 85,900 112,300
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 63rd pct Low · 18th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 91st pct · 53% of tasks 63rd pct · 35% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (43.5%) Augmentation-leaning (60.7%)
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: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Speaking, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Administrative, Active Listening, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Service Orientation, Medicine and Dentistry, Reading Comprehension, Computers and Electronics, Near Vision, Writing, Critical Thinking, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Time Management, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Problem Sensitivity, Category Flexibility, Judgment and Decision Making, Finger Dexterity, Active Learning.

Specific to Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Administration and Management
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Mathematics
  • Selective Attention
  • Time Sharing
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Communications and Media

Specific to Medical Assistants

  • Education and Training
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Learning Strategies
  • Instructing
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness

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: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Word processing software , Accounting software , Data base user interface and query software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Operating system software , Billing and invoicing software , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Specific to Medical Assistants

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants or Medical Assistants — 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. "Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants vs Medical Assistants." 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/medical-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-vs-medical-assistants

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants vs Medical Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/medical-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-vs-medical-assistants

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-medical-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-vs-medical-assistants,
  title  = {Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants vs Medical Assistants},
  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/medical-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-vs-medical-assistants}
}

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