Barbers

Moderate Risk
48%

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Vote Comments (16)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
62%
(High Risk)
POLLING
34%
(Low Risk, Based on 439 votes)
Average: 48%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
6.4%
by year 2033
WAGES
$36,150
or $17.38 per hour
Volume
15,990
as of 2023
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.2/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

People also viewed

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Calculated automation risk

62% (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:

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

  • Manual Dexterity

  • Finger Dexterity

  • Social Perceptiveness

User poll

34% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. However, the automation risk level we have generated suggests a much higher chance of automation: 62% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

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

Sentiment

The following graph is shown where there are enough votes to produce meaningful data. It displays user poll results over time, providing a clear indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Barbers' job openings is expected to rise 6.4% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Barbers' was $36,150, or $17 per hour

'Barbers' were paid 24.8% lower than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 15,990 people employed as 'Barbers' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 9 thousand people are employed as 'Barbers'.

Job description

Provide barbering services, such as cutting, trimming, shampooing, and styling hair; trimming beards; or giving shaves.

SOC Code: 39-5011.00

Comments (16)

Leave a comment
LJ (No chance)
20 Dec 2025 16:20
No hair style is ever the same and to fully automate the task needs to be the mostly the same each time.
car
19 Mar 2025 23:04
i think it's definetely possible but the biggest concern is safety. Since its a robot though, it could be accurate enough to not have to use something dangerous to cut the hair.
@mcfc_seb (Highly likely)
23 Nov 2023 14:54
You have priters 3d with such a details. Im not saying its gonna be barber “come&go”. It will be something like head scan first, then programmed hair style, so you put kind of helmet and wait. They will have all your data for the next time.
WS
16 Nov 2023 14:46
The day when robots become dexterous enough to get into barbering is the day when humans will be rendered completely useless.
Tarcísio (Low)
22 Mar 2023 01:13
It's very difficult because if you use a machine, the client might move, but it's not impossible.
NMS (No chance)
22 Dec 2022 18:02
It'll be a long time before anyone trusts a robot with a razor blade near their neck. Robots still lack dexterity, and people seem to underestimate how insanely good humans are at hand-eye coordination. Also, people like their barber's being human. It's a very personal job and hairstyles are an expression of individuality for some.
Johnny (Highly likely)
19 Oct 2022 16:12
Robots can make this process much more accurate and efficient
Zielony Kapelusznik (Low)
15 Mar 2022 17:26
I think that no robotic "hands" will be able to replace human hands in styling hair or cutting hair. After all, it wouldn't be very safe, due to the risk of injuring the person being cut, because even with perfect accuracy, the software may just not be able to adjust the way of cutting to each client's head.
Aakash (Low)
26 Nov 2021 15:30
I don't think so. The precision of hand control needed to do that is comparable to that of a surgeon.
Jake
06 Jun 2021 20:30
I’ll be surprised if it can even do a skin fade
oooooo (Low)
10 Jan 2021 15:29
Mostly unlikely. Robots do not have the Dexterity for such tasks yet and still far from that stage
Bernard Everstein (No chance)
20 Oct 2020 21:08
not cost effective, high risk factor, artistic decisions, not a chance this job is leaving human hands
Robotslayer
24 Sep 2020 17:32
That's nonsense. Robots cannot have the same attention to detail and dexterity humans have. Maybe in 100 years.
Mart (No chance)
12 May 2020 20:29
Robots will highly likely never have the same attention to detail, technique, resourcefulness or dexterity to do a skin fade!
ben Franklin (Low)
09 Sep 2019 17:14
we will probably not be that advanced yet in society
Chazzadog420
12 Jun 2019 05:06
This is reassuring thanks
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