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Respiratory Therapists vs Physical Therapist Aides

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

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

Respiratory Therapists Physical Therapist Aides
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$80,450
$34,520
Employment · BLS OEWS
136,420
44,010
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
12th pct
7th pct

At a glance

Dimension Respiratory Therapists Physical Therapist Aides
Median pay $80,450 $34,520
Employment 136,420 44,010
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+12.1%) About average (+2.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 8,800 6,600
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 Low · 12th pct Low · 7th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 57th pct · 30% of tasks 18th pct · 15% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (80.3%) —
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, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Inductive Reasoning, English Language, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Speaking, Written Comprehension, Near Vision, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Written Expression, Speech Clarity, Psychology, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Instructing, Speech Recognition, Computers and Electronics, Writing, Time Management, Selective Attention, Finger Dexterity.

Specific to Respiratory Therapists

  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Education and Training
  • Biology
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Learning Strategies
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Chemistry
  • Mathematics

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Trunk Strength
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Persuasion
  • Category Flexibility
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Static Strength

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 , Word processing software .

Specific to Respiratory Therapists

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Respiratory Therapists or Physical Therapist Aides — 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. "Respiratory Therapists vs Physical Therapist Aides." 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/respiratory-therapists-vs-physical-therapist-aides

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Respiratory Therapists vs Physical Therapist Aides. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/respiratory-therapists-vs-physical-therapist-aides

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-respiratory-therapists-vs-physical-therapist-aides,
  title  = {Respiratory Therapists vs Physical Therapist Aides},
  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/respiratory-therapists-vs-physical-therapist-aides}
}

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