Skip to content
Singulariki

Telephone Operators vs Public Safety Telecommunicators

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Telephone Operators and Public Safety Telecommunicators 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.”

Telephone Operators Public Safety Telecommunicators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$39,130
$50,730
Employment · BLS OEWS
3,950
101,140
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
96th pct
97th pct

At a glance

Dimension Telephone Operators Public Safety Telecommunicators
Median pay $39,130 $50,730
Employment 3,950 101,140
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-27.5%) About average (+3.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 300 10,700
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies High · 96th pct High · 97th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 92nd pct · 54% of tasks 33rd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (55.6%) Automation-leaning (33.3%)
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, Active Listening, Speaking, Oral Comprehension, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Telecommunications, Administrative, Service Orientation, English Language, Social Perceptiveness, Computers and Electronics, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Written Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Selective Attention, Near Vision, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Monitoring, Written Expression, Information Ordering, Complex Problem Solving, Administration and Management, Coordination, Auditory Attention, Public Safety and Security, Education and Training, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Personnel and Human Resources, Communications and Media.

Specific to Telephone Operators

  • Finger Dexterity
  • Time Management
  • Category Flexibility
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Writing
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Public Safety Telecommunicators

  • Law and Government
  • Geography
  • Psychology
  • Time Sharing
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Persuasion

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 , Presentation software , Word processing software , Helpdesk or call center software .

Specific to Telephone Operators

Specific to Public Safety Telecommunicators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Telephone Operators or Public Safety Telecommunicators — 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. "Telephone Operators vs Public Safety Telecommunicators." 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/telephone-operators-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Telephone Operators vs Public Safety Telecommunicators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/telephone-operators-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-telephone-operators-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators,
  title  = {Telephone Operators vs Public Safety Telecommunicators},
  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/telephone-operators-vs-public-safety-telecommunicators}
}

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