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Physical Therapist Assistants vs Recreational Therapists

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Assistants and Recreational Therapists 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.”

Physical Therapist Assistants Recreational Therapists
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$65,510
$60,280
Employment · BLS OEWS
108,010
15,060
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
8th pct
16th pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Assistants Recreational Therapists
Median pay $65,510 $60,280
Employment 108,010 15,060
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+22.0%) About average (+3.3%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 19,800 1,300
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 8th pct Low · 16th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 22nd pct · 17% of tasks 32nd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (63.1%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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, Therapy and Counseling, English Language, Oral Expression, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Education and Training, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Written Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Psychology, Medicine and Dentistry, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Service Orientation, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Coordination, Instructing, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Persuasion, Time Management, Fluency of Ideas, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

  • Computers and Electronics
  • Biology
  • Selective Attention
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Static Strength
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Recreational Therapists

  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • Learning Strategies
  • Administration and Management
  • Originality
  • Negotiation
  • 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: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

Specific to Recreational Therapists

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Assistants or Recreational Therapists — 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. "Physical Therapist Assistants vs Recreational Therapists." 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/physical-therapist-assistants-vs-recreational-therapists

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Physical Therapist Assistants vs Recreational Therapists. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/physical-therapist-assistants-vs-recreational-therapists

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-assistants-vs-recreational-therapists,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Assistants vs Recreational Therapists},
  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/physical-therapist-assistants-vs-recreational-therapists}
}

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