# Childcare Workers

> Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play.

- **SOC code:** 39-9011.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-9011-00
- **Also known as:** Child Care Worker, Childcare Provider, Infant Teacher, Toddler Teacher, Caregiver, Child Caregiver, Childcare Worker, Daycare Teacher
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Maintain a safe play environment.
- Observe and monitor children's play activities.
- Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
- Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
- Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for people with disabilities.
- Sanitize toys and play equipment.
- Dress children and change diapers.
- Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
- Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
- Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
- Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
- Sterilize bottles and prepare formulas.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- Education and Training _(knowledge)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Public Safety and Security _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Learning Strategies _(Specialized Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Educational software
- Google Classroom
- Nearpod
- Scheduling software
- Schoology
- Seesaw
- Tadpoles
- Web browser software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 36th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 38th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 23rd percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 54th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 27th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -2.9% growth (Declining); 160.2k annual openings; 991.6k → 962.4k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $32,050; 520,180 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 44% automation, 50% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Help children with homework and school work. _(5.8% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues. _(0.9% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Create developmentally appropriate lesson plans. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me help children with homework and school work.
- Help me communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
- Help me create developmentally appropriate lesson plans.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-9011-00_