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Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials vs Recreation Workers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials and Recreation Workers 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.”

Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials Recreation Workers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$38,820
$35,380
Employment · BLS OEWS
15,080
309,640
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
25th pct
65th pct

At a glance

Dimension Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials Recreation Workers
Median pay $38,820 $35,380
Employment 15,080 309,640
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+5.7%) About average (+4.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 4,600 68,100
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 25th pct Moderate · 65th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 71st pct · 37% of tasks 37th pct · 21% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (61.4%) Augmentation-leaning (58.0%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No Yes

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: Oral Expression, Far Vision, Oral Comprehension, Near Vision, Speaking, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Clarity, English Language, Critical Thinking, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Learning Strategies, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Written Comprehension, Education and Training, Instructing, Time Management, Written Expression, Information Ordering, Category Flexibility, Writing, Persuasion, Negotiation.

Specific to Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Selective Attention
  • Time Sharing
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Memorization
  • Speed of Closure
  • Trunk Strength

Specific to Recreation Workers

  • Service Orientation
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Law and Government
  • Psychology
  • Administrative
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • 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 , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software , Video creation and editing software , Internet browser software .

Specific to Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

Specific to Recreation Workers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials or Recreation Workers — 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. "Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials vs Recreation Workers." 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/umpires-referees-and-other-sports-officials-vs-recreation-workers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials vs Recreation Workers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/umpires-referees-and-other-sports-officials-vs-recreation-workers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-umpires-referees-and-other-sports-officials-vs-recreation-workers,
  title  = {Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials vs Recreation Workers},
  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/umpires-referees-and-other-sports-officials-vs-recreation-workers}
}

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