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Psychiatric Aides vs Physical Therapist Assistants

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Psychiatric Aides and Physical Therapist 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.”

Psychiatric Aides Physical Therapist Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$41,590
$65,510
Employment · BLS OEWS
34,900
108,010
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
17th pct
8th pct

At a glance

Dimension Psychiatric Aides Physical Therapist Assistants
Median pay $41,590 $65,510
Employment 34,900 108,010
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.4%) Growing fast (+22.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 5,300 19,800
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 Low · 17th pct Low · 8th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 22nd pct · 17% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — 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: Psychology, Oral Expression, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Active Listening, Monitoring, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Customer and Personal Service, Inductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Speech Recognition, Active Learning, Coordination, Information Ordering, Therapy and Counseling, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Instructing, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Expression, Selective Attention, Near Vision, English Language, Persuasion, Category Flexibility, Perceptual Speed.

Specific to Psychiatric Aides

  • Far Vision
  • Negotiation
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Trunk Strength
  • Auditory Attention
  • Administrative
  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • Learning Strategies

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

  • Education and Training
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Biology
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Static Strength
  • Time Management
  • Fluency of Ideas

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 , Operating system software , Word processing software , Medical software .

Specific to Psychiatric Aides

    Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Psychiatric Aides or Physical Therapist 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. "Psychiatric Aides vs Physical Therapist 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/psychiatric-aides-vs-physical-therapist-assistants

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Psychiatric Aides vs Physical Therapist Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/psychiatric-aides-vs-physical-therapist-assistants

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-psychiatric-aides-vs-physical-therapist-assistants,
  title  = {Psychiatric Aides vs Physical Therapist 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/psychiatric-aides-vs-physical-therapist-assistants}
}

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