Often handed to AI
Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.
- Identify issues for research and analysis. · 0.7%
Political Scientists
Occupation · SOC 19-3094.00
Study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. May study topics, such as public opinion, political decisionmaking, and ideology. May analyze the structure and operation of governments, as well as various political entities. May conduct public opinion surveys, analyze election results, or analyze public documents.
Also called: Citizen Participation Specialist · Government Affairs Researcher · Government Affairs Specialist · Health Policy Analyst · Legislative Affairs Specialist · Legislative Analyst · Legislative Liaison · Legislative Policy Analyst · Local Governance Specialist · Medical Policy Analyst · Policy Advisor · Policy Analyst
Job family: Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-19-3094-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Use as a copilot
Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.
- Teach political science. · 9.6%
- Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. · 5.1%
- Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. · 2.7%
Keep a human in the loop
Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.
- Identify issues for research and analysis. · 100.0% need a human
- Collect, analyze, and interpret data such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions. · 98.6% need a human
- Teach political science. · 98.2% need a human
Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- Declining employment outlook (-3.1% by 2034)
- 500 openings/yr
- High AI exposure
- Observed AI use leans augmentation
- Median pay $139,380/yr
- Can largely be done remotely (teleworkable)
- A reversal from 2013 — rated low automation risk then (21st), high AI task-overlap now (97th)
97th-percentile task overlap — yet about 500 openings a year (-3.1% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 7289% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High | 97th | 1.4 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High | 81st | 0.9 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High | 99th | 0.4 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.5), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.9). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 21st percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. | 23.9% | |
| Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. | 2.7% | |
| Teach political science. | 2.3% | |
| Identify issues for research and analysis. | 2.1% | |
| Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources. | 1.1% | |
| Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations. | 0.6% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | Declining · -3.1% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 500 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 6,500 → 6,300 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Political Scientists sits at the 85th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure rose from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
47% mean task exposure (2025)
85th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+6 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophers, Historians and Political Scientists · 2633 | 47% | Gradient 2 |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Working with AI in this job
How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.
| Augmentation vs. automation | 72.9% working with AI · 22.0% handed to AI |
| Most common way people use AI here | Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach |
| Typical AI autonomy | 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently |
| Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) | 16.9% |
What people delegate to AI
The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.
| Task | How | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Teach political science. | Learning | 9.6% |
| Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. | Learning | 5.1% |
| Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. | Iteration | 2.7% |
| Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources. | Learning | 1.8% |
| Collect, analyze, and interpret data such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions. | Learning | 0.7% |
| Identify issues for research and analysis. | Directive | 0.7% |
| Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations. | Learning | 0.7% |
Where a human is still needed
Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.
| Identify issues for research and analysis. | 100.0% | |
| Collect, analyze, and interpret data such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions. | 98.6% | |
| Teach political science. | 98.2% | |
| Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. | 97.6% | |
| Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. | 96.3% | |
| Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources. | 94.0% |
What people most often hand AI here
Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.
-
Help me teach political science.From: Teach political science. · 9.6% of measured AI use · learning
-
Help me interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations.From: Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. · 5.1% of measured AI use · learning
-
Help me write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use.From: Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. · 2.7% of measured AI use · task iteration
-
Help me develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources.From: Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources. · 1.8% of measured AI use · learning
Tasks
All 14 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Teach political science. Core · importance 4.6
- Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources. Core · importance 4.5
- Maintain current knowledge of government policy decisions. Core · importance 4.5
- Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations. Core · importance 4.3
- Advise political science students. Core · importance 4.2
- Collect, analyze, and interpret data, such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions. Core · importance 4.0
- Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. Core · importance 4.0
- Identify issues for research and analysis. Core · importance 3.9
- Serve on committees. Core · importance 3.1
- Forecast political, economic, and social trends. Core · importance 3.0
- Consult with and advise government officials, civic bodies, research agencies, the media, political parties, and others concerned with political issues. Supplemental · importance 2.7
- Evaluate programs and policies, and make related recommendations to institutions and organizations. Supplemental · importance 2.7
- Provide media commentary or criticism related to public policy and political issues and events. Supplemental · importance 2.6
- Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. Supplemental · importance 2.2
Work activities
- Advise students on academic or career matters.
- Advise others on educational matters.
- Serve on institutional or departmental committees.
- Instruct college students in social sciences or humanities disciplines.
- Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
- Plan social sciences research.
- Develop theories or models of physical phenomena.
- Review professional literature to maintain professional knowledge.
- Interpret research or operational data.
- Conduct research on social issues.
- Evaluate civic projects or public policies.
- Advise others on matters of public policy.
- Prepare information or documentation related to legal or regulatory matters.
- Forecast economic, political, or social trends.
- Present information to the public.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
| Law and Government | 4.7 | |
| English Language | 4.4 | |
| Education and Training | 4.3 | |
| History and Archeology | 3.4 | |
| Mathematics | 3.4 | |
| Communications and Media | 3.3 | |
| Sociology and Anthropology | 3.2 | |
| Geography | 3.1 | |
| Philosophy and Theology | 3.1 | |
| Computers and Electronics | 3.0 |
Abilities
| Written Comprehension | 4.6 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 4.1 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.1 | |
| Written Expression | 4.0 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.0 | |
| Speech Clarity | 4.0 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.9 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.8 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.6 | |
| Near Vision | 3.6 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.3 | |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.1 | |
| Originality | 3.1 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.1 |
Essential skills
| Reading Comprehension | 4.3 | |
| Active Listening | 4.1 | |
| Speaking | 4.1 | |
| Active Learning | 4.1 | |
| Writing | 4.0 | |
| Critical Thinking | 4.0 | |
| Learning Strategies | 3.5 | |
| Mathematics | 3.0 |
Transferable skills
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.8 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.6 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.6 | |
| Instructing | 3.5 | |
| Systems Evaluation | 3.1 | |
| Coordination | 3.0 | |
| Service Orientation | 3.0 | |
| Systems Analysis | 3.0 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 43.
Tools & technology
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 5 — Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
- Typical entry-level education
- Master's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
- Preparation level
- SVP (8.0 and above) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies , Public Administration and Social Service Professions , Social Sciences . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| Doctoral Degree | 88.5% | |
| Master's Degree | 7.7% | |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 3.9% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Interest areas
| Social Science | 6.8 | |
| Politics | 5.8 | |
| Humanities | 5.3 | |
| Teaching/Education | 3.8 | |
| Public Speaking | 3.7 | |
| Mathematics/Statistics | 3.5 | |
| Law | 3.0 | |
| Media | 2.6 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Investigative | 6.7 | |
| Artistic | 3.9 | |
| Enterprising | 3.6 | |
| Conventional | 3.5 | |
| Social | 3.4 |
Work styles
| Attention to Detail | 5.0 | |
| Integrity | 4.0 | |
| Intellectual Curiosity | 3.0 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $74,750 |
| 25th percentile | $103,030 |
| Median (50th) | $139,380 |
| 75th percentile | $172,050 |
| 90th percentile | $191,880 |
| People employed | 5,950 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 940 | $130,580 |
| Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities · National industry | 610 | $130,840 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 330 | $81,620 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 150 | $91,150 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities · National industry | 260.03× | 610 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 2.26× | 940 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 0.88× | 150 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 0.63× | 330 |
Related occupations
Part of the Management & Entrepreneurship and Public Service & Safety career clusters.
- Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary · 25-1065.00 Compare →
- Sociologists · 19-3041.00 Compare →
- Economists · 19-3011.00 Compare →
- Law Teachers, Postsecondary · 25-1112.00 Compare →
- Legislators · 11-1031.00 Compare →
- Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary · 25-1067.00 Compare →
- Climate Change Policy Analysts · 19-2041.01 Compare →
- Economics Teachers, Postsecondary · 25-1063.00 Compare →
- Environmental Economists · 19-3011.01 Compare →
- Survey Researchers · 19-3022.00 Compare →
- Public Relations Managers · 11-2032.00 Compare →
- Business Teachers, Postsecondary · 25-1011.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Political Scientists — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Master's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 5 — Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies · field of study
- Public Administration and Social Service Professions · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 85th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Political Scientists show 97th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 500 annual U.S. openings
- Political Scientists rank in the 97th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 500 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be declining (-3.1%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $139,380, across about 5,950 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
- Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 73% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Political Scientists show 97th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 500 annual U.S. openings • Political Scientists rank in the 97th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 500 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be declining (-3.1%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $139,380, across about 5,950 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 73% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) Source: Singulariki — "Political Scientists". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-3094-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
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
Plain
Singulariki. "Political Scientists." 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/roles/role-19-3094-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Political Scientists. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-19-3094-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-19-3094-00,
title = {Political Scientists},
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/roles/role-19-3094-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.