AI Job Risk in China
China combines the world's largest manufacturing base with a fast-moving domestic tech sector and platform economy, so AI capability spreads through factories, logistics networks, and e-commerce operations unusually quickly. The core tension is between a huge, mobile workforce still doing physical assembly, delivery, and construction work, and an equally large layer of standardized office, customer-service, and data-entry roles inside factories, platforms, and state institutions that domestic AI tools can absorb rapidly given the scale of adoption already underway.
Average AI Risk
45.3 / 100
Jobs Analyzed
204
How to read this page in practice
The notes below explain how to interpret the country score, what kinds of sector mix usually raise or lower it, and what this comparison can and cannot tell you.
How to Read This Country
China is easiest to read by separating physical, distributed labor, factory-floor assembly, warehouse and delivery logistics, construction, from the office and platform-support layer sitting on top of it. Domestic AI adoption is aggressive across e-commerce customer service, content moderation, financial back offices, and administrative functions inside both state-owned enterprises and private tech firms. That pressure is real but concentrated; it moves much more slowly through last-mile delivery, skilled factory-line work, and construction, where China's enormous migrant and informal workforce still performs tasks that are cheap, flexible, and physically grounded.
What Drives the Score
China's employment base spans electronics and heavy manufacturing, a vast logistics and e-commerce delivery network, construction, and a rapidly digitizing services and finance sector concentrated in major cities. AI pressure is heaviest in platform-company back offices, customer support, financial processing, translation, and the standardized reporting demanded by both corporate and government bureaucracy, where domestic large language models are being deployed at scale. It is far lighter across delivery riders, factory-line operators, construction crews, and the broader informal and migrant-labor economy, where low labor costs, physical requirements, and localized coordination keep automation economically or practically unattractive for now.
What Holds Up Better
The most durable work in China sits in physical logistics, skilled manufacturing supervision, and construction, sectors that employ enormous numbers of migrant workers and depend on flexible, low-cost physical labor that remains cheaper and more adaptable than automation in many contexts. Roles that manage exceptions on fast-scaling platforms, quality inspection on production lines, and coordination between suppliers, factories, and delivery networks also hold value because they require judgment about fast-changing, real-world conditions that centralized systems still struggle to fully standardize.
What This Page Does Not Claim
A national figure cannot reconcile China's uneven development: coastal megacities with mature digital infrastructure sit alongside inland regions where manual and informal labor still dominate. State industrial policy and rapid domestic AI rollout can also shift adoption speed faster than market signals alone would suggest. Read the score together with the rural-urban divide, the size of the migrant labor force, and the gap between platform-company white-collar work and physical logistics or manufacturing labor.
Jobs Most At Risk from AI
This table is a current snapshot of the jobs that appear on the higher-risk side within this country profile. It is useful as a directional comparison, not as a permanent national ranking.
| Rank | Job | Risk Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Tester | 85 |
| 2 | Data Entry Clerk | 82 |
| 3 | Retail Cashier | 79 |
| 4 | Data Analyst | 79 |
| 5 | Bookkeeper | 78 |
| 6 | Truck Driver | 77 |
| 7 | QA Engineer | 77 |
| 8 | Accounting Clerk | 77 |
| 9 | Civil Drafter | 73 |
| 10 | Mobile App Developer | 73 |
| 11 | Software Engineer | 73 |
| 12 | Insurance Underwriter | 73 |
| 13 | Taxi Driver | 72 |
| 14 | System Administrator | 71 |
| 15 | Programmer | 69 |
| 16 | Bank Teller | 69 |
| 17 | Tax Preparer | 69 |
| 18 | IT Support Specialist | 67 |
| 19 | Train Operator | 66 |
| 20 | Technical Writer | 65 |
Jobs Safest from AI
This table shows the jobs that currently appear on the lower-risk side within this country profile. Read it as a structural comparison of work, not as a guarantee that these roles will stay unchanged.
| Rank | Job | Risk Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surgeon | 10 |
| 2 | Electrician | 11 |
| 3 | Plumber | 11 |
| 4 | Therapist | 11 |
| 5 | Psychologist | 12 |
| 6 | Paramedic | 14 |
| 7 | Nurse | 15 |
| 8 | Dentist | 15 |
| 9 | School Counselor | 16 |
| 10 | Psychiatrist | 16 |
| 11 | Machine Learning Engineer | 17 |
| 12 | Veterinarian | 17 |
| 13 | Professor | 18 |
| 14 | Air Traffic Controller | 19 |
| 15 | Doctor | 19 |
| 16 | Social Worker | 20 |
| 17 | Elevator Technician | 21 |
| 18 | Aircraft Mechanic | 22 |
| 19 | Teacher | 22 |
| 20 | Museum Curator | 24 |
Industry Risk
This table compares the industries that shape the country score today. It is most useful for seeing which parts of the economy pull the average up or down.
| Industry | Industry Average Risk Score |
|---|---|
| Retail | 62.5 |
| Finance | 59.87 |
| Technology | 54.78 |
| Transportation | 45.1 |
| Agriculture | 42.25 |
| Manufacturing | 41.63 |
| Energy | 37.67 |
| Construction | 34.25 |
| Education | 31.92 |
| Healthcare | 26.13 |
Frequently asked questions
Q.Which jobs are most at risk from AI in China?
In China, the jobs with the highest AI risk scores include Software Tester. The full ranking of the most and least exposed jobs in China is shown above.
Q.Which jobs are safest from AI in China?
The China roles least exposed to AI automation include Surgeon, which tend to rely on physical work, in-person interaction, or accountable judgment.
Q.How exposed is China to AI automation?
A country's exposure mostly reflects what its workforce actually does. China combines highly exposed office and back-office work with more durable physical, field, or care work, so a single national score is a broad signal rather than a full picture.
Q.Does a high AI risk score mean jobs will disappear in China?
No. The score measures how exposed typical tasks are to automation, not a forecast of job losses. Real-world adoption also depends on cost, regulation, and local labor conditions.