Physical Therapist Assistants
Healthcare Support Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 31-2021.00
Assist physical therapists in providing physical therapy treatments and procedures. May, in accordance with state laws, assist in the development of treatment plans, carry out routine functions, document the progress of treatment, and modify specific treatments in accordance with patient status and within the scope of treatment plans established by a physical therapist. Generally requires formal training.
AI exposure
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Low· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.17
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
AI exposure (OpenAI rubric)
21 rated tasks · 4 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (19.0%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
Tasks
Task statements from the O*NET® 31.0 Database, core tasks first.
| Task | Type | β (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities. | Core | 0 |
| Confer with physical therapy staff or others to discuss and evaluate patient information for planning, modifying, or coordinating treatment. | Core | 0 |
| Measure patients' range-of-joint motion, body parts, or vital signs to determine effects of treatments or for patient evaluations. | Core | 0 |
| Secure patients into or onto therapy equipment. | Core | 0 |
| Fit patients for orthopedic braces, prostheses, or supportive devices, such as crutches. | Core | 0 |
| Train patients in the use of orthopedic braces, prostheses, or supportive devices. | Core | 0 |
| Transport patients to and from treatment areas, lifting and transferring them according to positioning requirements. | Core | 0 |
| Monitor operation of equipment and record use of equipment and administration of treatment. | Core | 0.5 |
| Clean work area and check and store equipment after treatment. | Core | 0 |
| Assist patients to dress, undress, or put on and remove supportive devices, such as braces, splints, or slings. | Core | 0 |
| Perform clerical duties, such as taking inventory, ordering supplies, answering telephone, taking messages, or filling out forms. | Core | 1 |
| Perform postural drainage, percussions, or vibrations or teach deep breathing exercises to treat respiratory conditions. | Core | 0 |
| Observe patients during treatments to compile and evaluate data on their responses and progress and provide results to physical therapist in person or through progress notes. | Core | 0.5 |
| Administer active or passive manual therapeutic exercises, therapeutic massage, aquatic physical therapy, or heat, light, sound, or electrical modality treatments, such as ultrasound. | Core | 0 |
| Communicate with or instruct caregivers or family members on patient therapeutic activities or treatment plans. | Core | 0 |
| Attend or conduct continuing education courses, seminars, or in-service activities. | Core | 0 |
| Document patient information, such as notes on their progress. | Core | 1 |
| Instruct patients in proper body mechanics and in ways to improve functional mobility, such as aquatic exercise. | Core | 0 |
| Administer traction to relieve neck or back pain, using intermittent or static traction equipment. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Prepare treatment areas and electrotherapy equipment for use by physiotherapists. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Perform therapeutic wound care. | Supplemental | 0 |
Occupation information
Sources and attribution
This page includes information from the O*NET® 31.0 Database (https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI Changing Work has modified all or some of this information: the O*NET-SOC code, title and task statements are reproduced in English without change; task-type labels are shown in the page's language and tasks are listed core first; any Korean occupation title shown on the Korean-language page is AI Changing Work's translation; any KSCO-8 unit groups linked to this occupation were paired with it by AI Changing Work's judgment, and the relation labels and statuses are AI Changing Work's additions. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Any AI exposure figures on this page are published by third parties, not by AI Changing Work, and none is part of the O*NET information. OpenAI publishes task-level scores (MIT License) for O*NET 27.2 task statements; each is shown next to the O*NET 31.0 task statement with the same task ID, whose wording can differ from the 27.2 statement that was scored. OpenAI also publishes occupation-level scores for O*NET-SOC codes in the same release, and any such score is shown on the O*NET occupation with the same code. Anthropic publishes an observed exposure index in the Anthropic Economic Index (CC-BY), and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes relative AI exposure categories (public domain); both are published per SOC code, and each value is shown on every O*NET occupation with that code. The International Labour Organization publishes a generative AI exposure index in ILO Working Paper 140 (CC BY 4.0) for ISCO-08 unit groups; AI Changing Work links those groups to O*NET occupations by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC and 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC crosswalks as published, without case-by-case selection, and these crosswalks match many groups only in part. Where several unit groups are linked, each group's published value is listed, and any summary shows only the lowest and highest of those values with the number of groups; no exposure figure is averaged or recalculated. Any employment figures are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the SOC group containing this occupation. Each source is credited where its figures are shown.
O*NET OnLine: 31-2021.00 Physical Therapist Assistants
KSCO 코드·명칭: 한국표준직업분류(제8차 개정) — 통계청 고시 제2024-328호 (2024-07-01 고시, 2025-01-01 시행). 저작권법 제7조 제2호의 고시 항목이다. 명칭 표기(가운뎃점·띄어쓰기)는 해설서 2차 정오 반영판의 표기를 따랐으며, 고시 항목표와는 18개 명칭에서 가운뎃점 글리프나 띄어쓰기만 다르다. 통계청은 2025년 10월 국가데이터처로 개편되었다. 이 페이지의 KSCO 연결은 통계청·국가데이터처의 공식 연계표가 아니다.