Data entry clerks
Almost every task can be done with generative AI, with little uncertainty. This is where the change is biggest — and where switching makes most sense.
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?
🤖 Written with AIThis text was written by artificial intelligence from the data points shown; it is built on verified figures but may contain mistakes.· 11/10/2026How is it made?
With an exposure score 70/100, routine keyboard entry and document intake face significant automation. While headcounts gradually decline, substantial replacement demand keeps clerks essential for resolving edge-case anomalies, data reconciliation, and database migration oversight.
What changes
- Direct keyboard entry of text, numerical data, and codes from standard source documents into databases.
- Intake, scanning, and initial document registration are increasingly streamlined by automated document capture tools.
- Automated data pipeline scripts and API connectors replacing routine manual batch imports and exports.
What stays human
- Handling ambiguous, illegible, or damaged source records that fail automated optical recognition.
- Investigating discrepancy root causes and auditing critical errors during source-to-target data reconciliation.
- Communicating with source departments to clarify contradictory, missing, or sensitive confidential record entries.
What to learn
- Basic SQL and database query tools to audit, clean, and validate batch data tables.
- Workflow automation and ETL software to build and monitor automated data intake pipelines.
- Transitioning into specialized database administration, quality assurance, or junior financial data auditing roles.
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 numerical data, codes and text from source material into computer-compatible storage and processing devices74
- Receiving and registering invoices, forms, records and other documents for data capture72
- Importing and exporting data between different database systems and software.70
- Verifying accuracy and completeness of data and correcting entered data, if needed69
- Operating bookkeeping and calculating machines66
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 numerical data, codes and text from source material into computer-compatible storage and processing devices(74)
- Receiving and registering invoices, forms, records and other documents for data capture(72)
- Importing and exporting data between different database systems and software.(70)
- Verifying accuracy and completeness of data and correcting entered data, if needed(69)
- Operating bookkeeping and calculating machines(66)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 70.)
About 100% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Entering numerical data, codes and text from source material into computer-compatible storage and processing devices
- • Receiving and registering invoices, forms, records and other documents for data capture
- • Operating bookkeeping and calculating machines
- • Verifying accuracy and completeness of data and correcting entered data, if needed
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 General and keyboard clerks group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | General and keyboard clerks |
|---|---|
| Greece | 7.3% · 314 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 6.4% · 2,692 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 5.9% · 1,413 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 5.2% · 273 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 5.1% · 245 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 4.4% · 200 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 4.3% · 22 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 3.7% · 12 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 3.7% · 96 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 3.6% · 617 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 3.5% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 3.3% · 955 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 2.9% · 49 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 2.8% · 28 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 2.8% · 144 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 2.8% · 131 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 2.3% · 521 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 2.0% · 105 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 2.0% · 152 thousand · 2025 |
| Luxembourg | 1.9% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 1.8% · 52 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 1.5% · 147 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 1.4% · 41 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.2% · 34 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 1.2% · 31 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 0.8% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 0.8% · 43 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 0.8% · 2 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 0.7% · 238 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 0.7% · 10 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 0.4% · 3 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Clerical support workers). 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.
- Switzerland4,326
- Luxembourg3,358
- Denmark3,338
- Belgium3,291
- Norway3,160
- Germany2,927
- Ireland2,900
- Iceland2,825
- Austria2,768
- Netherlands2,680
- EU272,590
- Italy2,521
- Sweden2,451
- Finland2,386
- Spain2,121
- Slovenia2,111
- Malta2,089
- Lithuania2,049
- France2,018
- Croatia1,847
- Greece1,837
- Poland1,796
- Romania1,755
- Estonia1,740
- Czechia1,725
- Cyprus1,685
- Hungary1,682
- Latvia1,617
- Slovakia1,583
- Portugal1,421
- Bulgaria1,203
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 General and keyboard clerks 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?