Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

Moderate Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

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
3.9/10
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.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

51% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

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

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Communicating with people outside the organization

Very important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Show 2 more strengths

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 142 votes

62% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 51% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants was $74,260 ($36 per hour).

The median annual wage for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants was 50.0% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants' job openings is expected to decline 1.6% by 2034

View employment trend

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.

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 472,770 people employed as 'Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants' within the United States.

This represents around 0.31% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 326 people are employed as 'Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants'.

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What people are saying (4)

Emily
03 Nov 2025 03:29
I believe that AI will be able to replace this job but not fully. I do not believe that if a manager is dealing with clients or they need to deal with the people they look over, it will not be beneficial. Managers' assistants do more than schedule; they actually help the manager with tasks that need to be done if they don't have time to do so. I think this could help an assistant be more efficient with their job, but it won't fully replace this type of job, people still enjoy speaking with another person.
ShaunaRe (Low)
20 Feb 2024 12:32
Executive Assistants are constantly having to negotiate on behalf of their executive. This includes intuitive situational awareness and emotional intelligence. I do not believe that AI will be able to replicate this in the next 10 years without true entity intelligence.

I often see tasks, errors, or concerns before my boss and am able to either manage those possible problems or bring them to my boss with some kind of possible solution recommendation.

An AI will do what it is asked, not see possible problems inherent in human behavior. AI could be an excellent tool for the Executive and the Executive Assistant, but I don't believe that national replacement will happen in the next 10-20 years without AI becoming sophisticated at understanding human interaction and emotion.
AK (Moderate)
03 Nov 2023 12:46
In the short term I think you will see a reduction in roles, however, I think the role will essentially evolve. There are lot of functions of a PA which have changed or have been automated, outsourced in the last 10 years, but the roles are no less busy.
RMP (Highly likely)
03 Aug 2019 19:14
I am observing lots of Exec Admin losing their Jobs.
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Job description

Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing routine administrative functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff.

O*NET-SOC code: 43-6011.00