Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary

Low Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (3)

Lower estimated automation risk

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
11% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better More jobs
12.9 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Weaker but realistic for assistants who add teacher credentials and reuse subject instruction and assessment.

Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
15% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better More jobs
9.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses student advising, academic progress awareness, campus resources, communication, and support documentation.

Education Administrators, Postsecondary
11% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better
13.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Plausible for experienced assistants using academic operations, student records, scheduling, policy, and faculty support.

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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
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.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

24% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

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.

Education and training expertise

Very important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
Jobs that also use this strength

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

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 1 more strength

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 12 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary was $44,930 ($22 per hour).

The median annual wage for Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary was 9.2% lower 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

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary' job openings is expected to rise 3.1% 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

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 155,010 people employed as 'Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 994 people are employed as 'Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary'.

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What people are saying (2)

Siti Nor Aminah Sa'at (Uncertain)
07 Jun 2023 10:37
The role I play in my job is a compassionate one which needs a human touch.
a (Moderate)
18 Oct 2022 18:27
grading, which is a big part of this job, could be automated
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Job description

Assist faculty or other instructional staff in postsecondary institutions by performing instructional support activities, such as developing teaching materials, leading discussion groups, preparing and giving examinations, and grading examinations or papers.

O*NET-SOC code: 25-9044.00