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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3212

Medical and pathology laboratory technicians

Medical and pathology laboratory technicians perform clinical tests on specimens of bodily fluids and tissues in order to obtain information about the health of a patient or cause of death. Tasks include - (a) conducting chemical analysis of body fluids, including blood, urine and spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal and abnormal components; (b) operating, calibrating and maintaining equipment used in quantitative and qualitative analysis, such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters, flame photometers and computer-controlled analysers; (c) entering data from analysis of laboratory tests and clinical results into record-keeping systems, and reporting results to medical practitioners and other health professionals; (d) analysing samples of biological material for chemical content or reaction; (e) setting up, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment; (f) analysing laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results; (g) 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; (h) obtaining specimens, cultivating, isolating and identifying microorganisms for analysis; (i) examining cells stained with dye to locate abnormalities; (j) inoculating fertilized eggs, broths, or other bacteriological media with organisms. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Blood-bank technician - Cytology technician - Medical laboratory technician - Pathology technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Pathologist - 2212 - Forensic science technician - 3119 - Veterinary technician - 3240 - Phlebotomist - 5329

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 248 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • biomedical scientist
  • medical laboratory assistant

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

69.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 30.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 30.7 = 69.3

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

44
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 6 US jobs

36.1
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 47.3 · hand skill 42 · cramped spaces 19 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 44 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 64.5, while the average is 30.7. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 64.5

    Entering data from analysis of laboratory tests and clinical results into records-keeping systems and reporting results to medical practitioners and other health professionals

    Medium
  2. 47.5

    Analysing laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results

    Low
  3. 41.5

    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

    Low
  4. 31.8

    Analysing samples of biological material for chemical content or reaction

    Low
  5. 28.8

    Obtaining specimens, cultivating, isolating and identifying microorganisms for analysis

    Low
  6. 24.9

    Operating, calibrating and maintaining equipment used in quantitative and qualitative analysis, such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters, flame photometers and computer-controlled analysers

    Very Low
  7. 24.5

    Conducting chemical analysis of body fluids, including blood, urine and spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal and abnormal components

    Very Low
  8. 16.5

    Examining cells stained with dye to locate abnormalities

    Very Low
  9. 15.8

    Inoculating fertilized eggs, broths or other bacteriological media with organisms.

    Very Low
  10. 11.5

    Setting up, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment

    Very Low

10 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
70
AI does it for you
31.5

Helping wins by 38.5 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2346, 3112

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.3. This one is above that.