Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians
Occupation group · SOC minor group
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/occupation-groups/life-physical-and-social-science-technicians/context.md directly.
Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians is one of the 98 SOC minor groups — the middle tier of the U.S. Standard Occupational Classification, sitting between the broad job families and individual occupations. It belongs to the Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations family and contains 16 detailed occupations employing about 536,400 people, with a median wage of $57,915 across them. BLS projects employment in this group to change +3.3% between 2024 and 2034 , with roughly 77,300 openings a year.
Occupations in this group
Ranked by U.S. employment (BLS OEWS May 2024). Projected change is BLS 2024–34; AI exposure is the OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" human beta rating (share of an occupation's tasks where an LLM with tools could cut the time to do them by at least half).
| Occupation | Median pay | Employment | 2024–34 | AI exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biological Technicians | $52,000 | 76,190 | +3.5% | 27% |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other | $60,130 | 71,400 | +3.5% | 47% |
| Quality Control Analysts | $60,130 | 71,400 | +3.5% | 47% |
| Remote Sensing Technicians | $60,130 | 71,400 | +3.5% | 47% |
| Chemical Technicians | $57,790 | 55,640 | +3.7% | 39% |
| Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health | $49,490 | 39,390 | +4.0% | 42% |
| Social Science Research Assistants | $58,040 | 32,940 | +4.4% | 62% |
| Forest and Conservation Technicians | $54,310 | 31,080 | -3.2% | 33% |
| Forensic Science Technicians | $67,440 | 19,450 | +12.8% | 19% |
| Agricultural Technicians | $46,790 | 14,340 | +4.3% | 50% |
| Precision Agriculture Technicians | $46,790 | 14,340 | +4.3% | 50% |
| Food Science Technicians | $49,430 | 14,200 | +4.8% | 29% |
| Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians | $48,390 | 9,710 | +1.5% | 30% |
| Nuclear Monitoring Technicians | $104,240 | 5,990 | -7.7% | 32% |
| Nuclear Technicians | $104,240 | 5,990 | -7.7% | 32% |
| Hydrologic Technicians | $58,570 | 2,940 | -2.1% | 53% |
AI exposure across this group
Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks an LLM (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across this group it is 40% — 68th percentile of the 98 groups. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages 0.39 here.
Exposure measures where AI could assist tasks — it is not a prediction that these jobs will be automated. High exposure often means augmentation (faster work), and many high-exposure occupations are also projected to grow.
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
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Singulariki. "Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/life-physical-and-social-science-technicians
Singulariki. (2026). Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/life-physical-and-social-science-technicians
@misc{singulariki-life-physical-and-social-science-technicians,
title = {Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/life-physical-and-social-science-technicians}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.