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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3230

Traditional and complementary medicine associate professionals

Traditional and complementary medicine associate professionals prevent, care for and treat human physical and mental illnesses, disorders and injuries using herbal and other therapies based on theories, beliefs and experiences originating in specific cultures. They administer treatments using traditional techniques and medicaments, either acting independently or according to therapeutic care plans established by a traditional medicine or other health professional. Tasks include - (a) examining patients and interviewing them and their families to determine their health status and the nature of physical or mental disorders or illnesses or other ailments; (b) recommending and providing care and treatment for illnesses and other ailments using traditional techniques and medicaments, such as physical manipulation and exercises, blood-letting using natural vessels, and preparations using herbs, plants, insects and animal extracts; (c) administering treatments such as acupuncture, ayurvedic, homeopathic and herbal medicine according to therapeutic care plans and procedures usually developed by a traditional medicine or other health professional; (d) providing care and treatment for physical injuries such as setting and healing fractured and dislocated bones using traditional methods of physical manipulation and herbal therapies; (e) advising individuals, families and the community on health, nutrition, hygiene, lifestyle and other issues to maintain or improve health and well-being; (f) referring patients to, and exchanging information with, other health care providers to ensure comprehensive and continuing care. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Acupuncture technician - Ayurvedic technician - Bonesetter - Herbalist - Homeopathy technician - Scraping and cupping therapist - Village healer - Witch doctor Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Acupuncturist - 2230 - Ayurvedic practitioner - 2230 - Chinese herbal medicine practitioner - 2230 - Homeopath - 2230 - Naturopath - 2230 - Chiropractor - 2269 - Osteopath - 2269 - Traditional midwife - 3222 - Acupressure therapist - 3255 - Hydrotherapist - 3255 - Faith healer - 3413 Notes Occupations in traditional and complementary for which competent performance requires an extensive understanding of the benefits and applications of traditional and complementary therapies, developed as the result of extended formal study of these techniques as well as human anatomy and elements of modern medicine, are classified in Unit Group 2230: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Professionals. Those occupations whose practice requires a less extensive understanding, based on relatively short periods of formal or informal education and training, or informally through the traditions and practices of the communities where they originated, are included in Unit Group 3230: Traditional and Complementary Medicine Associate Professionals. Practitioners working in the singular application of approaches to herbal medicines, spiritual therapies or manual therapeutic techniques are excluded from Unit Group 2230. Faith healers who treat human ailments through spiritual therapies, without using herbal therapies or other medicaments or physical treatments, are included in Unit Group 3413: Religious Associate Professionals. Occupations that provide therapy using traditional forms of massage and the application of pressure, such as acupressure and shiatsu therapists, are classified in Unit Group 3255: Physiotherapy Technicians and Assistants. Traditional and lay midwives, who provide basic pregnancy and birthing care and advice based primarily on experience and knowledge acquired informally through the traditions and practices of the communities where they originated, are classified in Unit Group 3222: Midwifery Associate Professionals.

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 127 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • herbal therapist

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

81.3
Holds up
against AI
Not Exposed

AI could take on 18.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 18.7 = 81.3

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

56.3
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs

49.2
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 50.9 · hand skill 44.6 · cramped spaces 52.1 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · caring 4+ of 7 Hands-on, helping and caring for others

Physical work where helping and caring for people is a big part of the job. For care work, whether a machine could do the movements is only half the question. The other half is whether anyone wants one to. The US data counts helping workmates too, so a few trades end up here.

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

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 56.3 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

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 32.5, while the average is 18.7. 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. 32.5

    Referring patients to, and exchanging information with, other health care providers to ensure comprehensive and continuing care.

    Low
  2. 32

    Advising individuals, families and the community on health, nutrition, hygiene, lifestyle and other issues to maintain or improve health and well-being

    Low
  3. 16.5

    Examining patients and interviewing them and their families to determine their health status and the nature of physical or mental disorders or illnesses or other ailments

    Very Low
  4. 13.8

    Administering treatments such as acupuncture, ayurvedic, homeopathic and herbal medicine according to therapeutic care plans and procedures usually developed by a traditional medicine or other health professional

    Very Low
  5. 11

    Recommending and providing care and treatment for illnesses and other ailments using traditional techniques and medicaments, such as physical manipulation and exercises, blood-letting using natural vessels, and preparations using herbs, plants, insects and animal extracts

    Very Low
  6. 6.4

    Providing care and treatment for physical injuries such as setting and healing fractured and dislocated bones using traditional methods of physical manipulation and herbal therapies

    Very Low

6 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.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
67
AI does it for you
29

Helping wins by 38 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 4515

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.2. This one is above that.