Rehabilitation Counselors vs Psychiatric Technicians
Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index
A factual, source-backed comparison of Rehabilitation Counselors and Psychiatric Technicians 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.”
At a glance
| Dimension | Rehabilitation Counselors | Psychiatric Technicians |
|---|---|---|
| Median pay | $46,110 | $42,590 |
| Employment | 88,930 | 136,300 |
| Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection | About average (+1.4%) | Growing fast (+20.0%) |
| Annual openings · BLS projection | 10,000 | 15,900 |
| Typical education · O*NET | Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do 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 | High · 76th pct | Low · 15th pct |
| Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk | 53rd pct · 28% of tasks | 57th pct · 30% of tasks |
| Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index | Augmentation-leaning (74.4%) | — |
| 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, Therapy and Counseling, Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Speech Clarity, Psychology, Education and Training, Monitoring, English Language, Written Comprehension, Written Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Inductive Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Writing, Critical Thinking, Coordination, Computers and Electronics, Judgment and Decision Making, Sociology and Anthropology, Time Management, Near Vision, Public Safety and Security, Active Learning, Learning Strategies, Persuasion, Instructing, Complex Problem Solving.
Specific to Rehabilitation Counselors
- Administrative
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administration and Management
- Systems Analysis
- Systems Evaluation
- Fluency of Ideas
Specific to Psychiatric Technicians
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Information Ordering
- Law and Government
- Selective Attention
- Negotiation
- Category Flexibility
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: Office suite software , Spreadsheet software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Medical software .
Specific to Rehabilitation Counselors
Specific to Psychiatric Technicians
Full profiles
This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Rehabilitation Counselors or Psychiatric Technicians — 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.
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Mental Health Counselors
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Healthcare Social Workers
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Occupational Therapy Aides
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Recreational Therapists
- Rehabilitation Counselors vs Social and Community Service Managers
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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Singulariki. "Rehabilitation Counselors vs Psychiatric Technicians." 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/rehabilitation-counselors-vs-psychiatric-technicians
Singulariki. (2026). Rehabilitation Counselors vs Psychiatric Technicians. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/rehabilitation-counselors-vs-psychiatric-technicians
@misc{singulariki-rehabilitation-counselors-vs-psychiatric-technicians,
title = {Rehabilitation Counselors vs Psychiatric Technicians},
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/rehabilitation-counselors-vs-psychiatric-technicians}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.