Customer Service Representatives

Imminent Risk
82%
Where Would You Like to Go Next?
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Vote Comments (24)
Or, Explore This Profession in Greater Detail...
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
79%
(High Risk)
POLLING
86%
(Imminent Risk)
Average: 82%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
-5.0%
by year 2033
WAGES
$39,680
or $19.08 per hour
Volume
2,858,710
as of 2023
SUMMARY
JOB SCORE
2.2/10

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Calculated automation risk

79% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): Jobs in this category face a significant threat from automation, as many of their tasks can be easily automated using current or near-future technologies.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Negotiation

  • Persuasion

  • Social Perceptiveness

User poll

86% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's very probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 79% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Customer Service Representatives will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?






Sentiment

The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Customer Service Representatives' job openings is expected to decline 5.0% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031
Updated projections are due 09-2024.

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Customer Service Representatives' was $39,680, or $19 per hour

'Customer Service Representatives' were paid 17.4% lower than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 2,858,710 people employed as 'Customer Service Representatives' within the United States.

This represents around 1.9% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 53 people are employed as 'Customer Service Representatives'.

Job description

Interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services. May handle and resolve general complaints. Excludes individuals whose duties are primarily installation, sales, repair, and technical support.

SOC Code: 43-4051.00

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Comments

Leave a comment

SYDNEY MERRILL (Highly likely) 11 months ago
I WORK THIS JOB AND EVERYDAY WE GET POINTLESS CALLS FOR ISSUES THAT CAN BE SCREENED BYA COMPUTER TO DETERMINE IF IT IS EVEN ELIGIBLE FOR A REPAIR TECHNICIAN TO GET OUT THERE WHICH WOULD BE ATIME AND MOENY SAVER FOR EMPLOYEES AND CLIENTS.
2 0 Reply
Ghizlane (Highly likely) 1 year ago
This is a task that Can definitely be replaced by IA. The thing is that for now, IAs don't have the ability to empathize. Once they'll figure out how to show some soft skills m, CSRs will be replaced for sure.
2 0 Reply
Mr Umphries (Low) 1 year ago
I think it's very unlikely. I've been in the industry for over 25 years, in different capacities and levels. I can confirm that customers want to talk to a human being who understands them, not some automated script just going through the paces.

I've seen this done by so many colleagues who were not committed to the task, or who even sounded like robots themselves.
0 0 Reply
Daniel M. (Highly likely) 2 years ago
There are chat bots already. This type of technology will only evolve with time.
0 0 Reply
JOHN MARK H. MANUEL (Highly likely) 2 years ago
It is highly likely because people in the 4IR are most likely to be tech-savvy.

With their technical skills, they can be assisted using applications. Nowadays, these are used to address service issues mechanically.
1 0 Reply
Raj (Low) 2 years ago
Talking to a real person can be more helpful than talking to a robot because a robot is limited to its programming. However, a human feels more satisfied when speaking to another human.
1 0 Reply
Christmas (Uncertain) 3 years ago
Human needs human contact
1 0 Reply
cagatay (Highly likely) 4 years ago
I am currently working at one of the biggest online shopping site in Turkey and I can tell you that robots or AI would even do a better job in this role. Companies are already started looking for replacement of human affect.
1 0 Reply
Dhiraj Temkar (Highly likely) 4 years ago
Based on Recommendation ML models and various routing ML models. Its highly likely that these jobs can be automated in a sense of more repetitions, similarities in a solution of a problem to some other solution for some other problem and the availability of enormous data of employee logs on what actions were taken to solve a particular problem.
0 0 Reply
CC (Highly likely) 4 years ago
This will defiantly be automated in the next 20 years. I have worked in call centres for over 5 years. Listen to Google Duplex A.I. assistant.
0 0 Reply
Tar (Low) 4 years ago
I see my company struggling with automation of my work. Started a few years ago and we are still only at the beginning. It lasts long and helps only keep our workload on acceptable level, helps coping with increasing workload, preventing only very few repetitive task types.
0 0 Reply
anon - CSR (Moderate) 4 years ago
I think it depends on the complexity of the products or services but I can see most of these jobs being automated
0 0 Reply
Lori (Uncertain) 4 years ago
I think us humans give Customer Service Industry a personal touch! People do not want to have to deal with a robot!
0 0 Reply
Ramon G Valdez Jr (Highly likely) 5 years ago
The Ai technology is already here and being used widely in the customer service space. When current company execs realize how flawless it is in the way it handles situations, all human CSR's will be having to look for another means of work. I was an happy & unhappy CSR for nearly 15 years and found a type of work that will not be replace by AI or any robot.
0 0 Reply
MC Lacson (Low) 5 years ago
Robots don't have empathetic skills.
0 0 Reply
Sarah (No chance) 5 years ago
We do need customer service representives to ask a question about a product for them via in-person, email or telephone. That's why robots shouldn't take this job away.
0 0 Reply
Kurt 5 years ago
googlebot phone call https://youtu.be/D5VN56jQMWM soon you won’t know the difference.
0 0 Reply
Anon (Moderate) 5 years ago
The number of representatives required will probably be cut down drastically as automated phone systems improve. Furthermore, the main group that can't use automate systems efficiently are seniors, and 20 years from now most seniors will probably be a fair bit more tech savvy than those of today.
0 0 Reply
Viktor 5 years ago
Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang says call center employees are doomed. Please comment on that, if you're in the industry.
0 0 Reply
im not replaceable 1 year ago
i think this will be highly dependent on the type of customer service being provided and the services/products being offered by the company as a whole that are requiring the customer support. automated phone systems have been a thing for a long time now, and for just as long, there have been resources available and sought out on how to avoid those systems and actually talk to someone. just search for "speak to a human"...

one thing ai will never be able to do is actually "be" human. while there are plenty of scenarios where "acting human-like with a high degree of accuracy" will be more than sufficient, and probably preferable than paying for a human to provide the same mundane tasks which really should be automated, if actually connecting with your customers in a real way would have any value to your business, hiring a real person to make those connections cant be substituted easily.
0 0 Reply
Lori 4 years ago
I think people want to talk to a person and the future will not be all robots. I think it will be predominately humans that we want to talk to.
0 0 Reply
Sir Prize 5 years ago
This is a comment. It depends on the complexity of the product and customer relations, but I think it is highly likely that the future of customer service will be automated.
0 0 Reply
Matthew Watson 5 years ago
I would say this job needs alot of judgement as many give false complaints or they have real problems. This job is about reporting and solving problems. However many tasks are repetitive so this job could go as well. Perhaps it could evolve
0 0 Reply
Ramon G Valdez Jr 5 years ago
AI technology will replace human involvement in the Customer service industry very soon. With algorithmic tech the AI will be able to respond to sense of happiness to hostility and will be able to respond sounding like a human being. Just take a listen to this AI clip from Google - https://youtu.be/D5VN56jQMWM
0 0 Reply

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