Medical and pathology laboratory technicians
AI can help with a few sub-tasks (emails, paperwork), but the core of the job doesn't change.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
The AI analysis for this occupation is still being prepared — the background process covers a few occupations every day.
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Entering data from analysis of laboratory tests and clinical results into records-keeping systems and reporting results to medical practitioners and other health professionals65
- Analysing laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results48
- Establishing and monitoring programmes to ensure the accuracy of laboratory results and developing, standardizing, evaluating, and modifying procedures, techniques and tests used in the analysis of specimens42
- Analysing samples of biological material for chemical content or reaction32
- Obtaining specimens, cultivating, isolating and identifying microorganisms for analysis29
- Operating, calibrating and maintaining equipment used in quantitative and qualitative analysis, such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters, flame photometers and computer-controlled analysers25
- Conducting chemical analysis of body fluids, including blood, urine and spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal and abnormal components25
- Examining cells stained with dye to locate abnormalities17
- Inoculating fertilized eggs, broths or other bacteriological media with organisms.16
- Setting up, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment12
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Entering data from analysis of laboratory tests and clinical results into records-keeping systems and reporting results to medical practitioners and other health professionals(65)
- Analysing laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results(48)
- Establishing and monitoring programmes to ensure the accuracy of laboratory results and developing, standardizing, evaluating, and modifying procedures, techniques and tests used in the analysis of specimens(42)
- Analysing samples of biological material for chemical content or reaction(32)
- Obtaining specimens, cultivating, isolating and identifying microorganisms for analysis(29)
- Operating, calibrating and maintaining equipment used in quantitative and qualitative analysis, such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters, flame photometers and computer-controlled analysers(25)
- Conducting chemical analysis of body fluids, including blood, urine and spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal and abnormal components(25)
- Examining cells stained with dye to locate abnormalities(17)
- Inoculating fertilized eggs, broths or other bacteriological media with organisms.(16)
- Setting up, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment(12)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 31.)
About 10% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Entering data from analysis of laboratory tests and clinical results into records-keeping systems and reporting results to medical practitioners and other health professionals
- • Analysing laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results
- • Setting up, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment
- • Inoculating fertilized eggs, broths or other bacteriological media with organisms.
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Health associate professionals group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Health associate professionals |
|---|---|
| Germany | 6.3% · 2,657 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 4.3% · 112 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 3.4% · 820 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 3.4% · 989 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 3.3% · 158 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 3.1% · 53 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 3.1% · 80 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 2.9% · 285 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 2.6% · 135 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 2.5% · 118 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 2.3% · 23 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 1.9% · 102 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 1.9% · 87 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 1.8% · 4 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 1.6% · 48 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 1.6% · 531 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 1.4% · 5 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 1.4% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 1.3% · 286 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 1.3% · 39 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 1.2% · 66 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 1.2% · 211 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 1.2% · 63 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.1% · 31 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 1.0% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 0.9% · 8 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 0.9% · 13 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 0.7% · 30 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 0.6% · 3 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 0.5% · 15 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Technicians and associate professionals). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland5,280
- Luxembourg4,320
- Norway4,307
- Denmark4,301
- Ireland4,024
- Belgium3,903
- Iceland3,856
- Germany3,608
- Austria3,399
- Netherlands3,247
- EU273,226
- Italy3,127
- Sweden3,089
- Finland2,971
- France2,687
- Spain2,685
- Slovenia2,660
- Cyprus2,537
- Lithuania2,472
- Malta2,464
- Romania2,310
- Poland2,294
- Czechia2,275
- Estonia2,251
- Croatia2,127
- Latvia2,081
- Hungary2,054
- Greece2,050
- Portugal2,044
- Slovakia2,027
- Bulgaria1,738
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Health associate professionals group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?