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Persuasion

Cross-functional skill · O*NET work requirement

Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

In the O*NET occupational database, Persuasion is a skill that work requires. O*NET rates how important it is (1–5) and what level of it a job needs (0–7) for every U.S. occupation. It is rated as important (3 or higher) in 329 of 894 occupations.

Breadth here means how widely O*NET rates this skill as important across occupations — not that it is rare, high-paying, or currently in employer demand.

Occupations that rely most on Persuasion

Ranked by O*NET importance to the occupation (1–5). Bars are sized against the 1–5 scale; the level column is what depth of the skill the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 4.3 4.0
Sales Engineers 4.1 4.3
Telemarketers 4.1 3.6
Advertising Sales Agents 4.0 4.0
Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes 4.0 4.1
Chief Executives 4.0 4.8
Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers 4.0 4.0
Fundraisers 4.0 4.4
Fundraising Managers 4.0 3.5
Lawyers 4.0 5.0
Chief Sustainability Officers 3.9 4.0
Clergy 3.9 4.0
Coaches and Scouts 3.9 4.1
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 3.9 4.0
Labor Relations Specialists 3.9 4.4
Medical and Health Services Managers 3.9 4.0
Retail Salespersons 3.9 4.0
Sales Managers 3.9 4.0
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors 3.9 3.8
Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators 3.8 4.3
Child, Family, and School Social Workers 3.8 3.9
Dentists, General 3.8 3.9
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 3.8 4.1
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers 3.8 3.9
Human Resources Managers 3.8 3.9
Industrial-Organizational Psychologists 3.8 3.9
Lodging Managers 3.8 4.0
Loss Prevention Managers 3.8 3.9
Marketing Managers 3.8 4.4
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers 3.8 4.0
Parts Salespersons 3.8 3.3
Public Relations Specialists 3.8 4.1
Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products 3.8 4.0
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 3.8 4.0
Spa Managers 3.8 3.8
Travel Guides 3.8 3.4
Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products 3.8 4.0
Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses 3.6 3.8
Clinical Nurse Specialists 3.6 3.9
Compliance Managers 3.6 3.8

Showing the top 40 of 329 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Persuasion

This skill is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles for which O*NET rates it important and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles (importance-weighted). 68.7% of the 329 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (226 roles).

Across those roles, 49.2% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 30.8% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.65 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 29.3% AI does it; you give the instruction
task iteration 27.4% you and AI go back and forth
learning 19.0% you ask AI to explain or teach
validation 2.9% you do it; AI checks your work
feedback loop 1.5% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this skill is most important and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Importance Works with AI Autonomy
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 63.2% 4.0/5
Educational, Guidance, School, and Vocational Counselors 3.6 70.6% 4.0/5
Editors 3.0 68.2% 4.0/5
Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers, Postsecondary 3.1 66.2% 3.3/5
Instructional Coordinators 3.3 53.1% 4.0/5
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary 3.1 65.7% 3.3/5
Geography Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 65.7% 3.3/5
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 66.2% 3.5/5
Communications Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 65.7% 3.0/5
History Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 65.1% 3.5/5
Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary 3.0 65.3% 4.0/5
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary 3.1 62.5% 3.5/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Shares are of observed conversations, weighted by how important this skill is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

Industries that concentrate this

Where Persuasion matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Persuasion (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.

Nationally, about 35.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Persuasion (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Health Care and Social Assistance 8,965,150 38.8%
Educational Services 7,129,430 52.3%
Retail Trade 6,420,950 41.2%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 4,799,710 44.6%
Finance and Insurance 3,568,010 57.3%
Manufacturing 2,657,710 20.8%
Accommodation and Food Services 2,550,490 17.9%
Wholesale Trade 2,525,180 41.8%
Construction 2,436,470 30.0%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 2,186,410 24.2%
Management of Companies and Enterprises 1,495,950 53.3%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 1,310,350 29.6%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Exterminating and Pest Control Services National industry 2.12× 74.7%
Labor Unions and Similar Labor Organizations National industry 2.08× 73.2%
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages National industry 1.97× 69.3%
Sporting Goods Retailers National industry 1.96× 69.0%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 1.93× 67.8%
Newspaper Publishers National industry 1.91× 67.2%
Television Broadcasting Stations National industry 1.88× 66.3%
Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers National industry 1.7× 59.8%
Finance and Insurance Sector 1.63× 57.3%
Offices of Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists, and Audiologists National industry 1.58× 55.5%
Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians) National industry 1.53× 53.9%
Management of Companies and Enterprises Sector 1.51× 53.3%

Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.

Capabilities required by many of the same occupations — a measure of which skills, knowledge and abilities tend to travel together, not a judgment of similarity.

Capability Type Shared occupations
Negotiation Cross-functional skill 245
Fluency of Ideas Ability 285
Social Perceptiveness Cross-functional skill 323
Instructing Cross-functional skill 257
Service Orientation Cross-functional skill 279
Writing Basic skill 319
Originality Ability 250
Active Learning Basic skill 314
Learning Strategies Basic skill 235
Written Expression Ability 323
Systems Evaluation Cross-functional skill 218
Systems Analysis Cross-functional skill 228

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. "Persuasion." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/skills/persuasion

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Persuasion. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/skills/persuasion

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-persuasion,
  title  = {Persuasion},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/skills/persuasion}
}

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