Elementary occupations · code 9510
Street and related service workers
Card readers take the payment. Polishing shoes on the street corner is still done by hand.
Taking payment and helping drivers park are mostly out of AI's reach. Cleaning car windows and handing out leaflets it barely touches.
What they actually do (and what else they get called)
Street and related services workers provide a variety of services on streets and in other public places, including cleaning shoes, washing car windows, running errands, handing out leaflets, looking after property, and providing other on-the-spot street services. Tasks include - (a) obtaining the materials necessary to perform services; (b) approaching people on the street to offer services; (c) cleaning and polishing shoes; (d) cleaning and polishing car windows; (e) running errands; (f) assisting car drivers to find a parking place and ensuring that the car is not damaged during the driver’s absence; (g) handing out leaflets and free newspapers; (h) receiving immediate payment. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Car window washer - Car guard - Errand boy - Free newspaper distributor - Leaflet distributor - Shoe-polisher Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Service station attendant - 5245 - Leaflet and newspaper deliverer - 9621
- leaflet distributor
Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.
82 / 100
Strongly holds up against AI
Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.
Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.
The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed
115 of 427 for holding up against AI
Not quite your week? Make it yours ↓
Why this score?
The ILO rated each of this job's 8 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 17.9 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 17.9 = 82.1.
That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.
from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use
Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy
It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.
Man v Bot · compare
Who holds up better?
Street and related service workers 82
vGo on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.
Man v Bot
Where the bot helps, and where the human wins
Bot
What AI takes
The routine stuff. You may not miss it.
- Taking payment by phone or card.
- Finding customers through apps.
- Parking guidance apps.
Man
What people still do better
Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.
- Approaching people and offering services.
- Running errands.
- Cleaning and polishing by hand.
Both
What's arriving
New work that only exists because the AI does.
- Getting paid through mobile money.
- Gig platforms for small jobs.
- Deliveries and errands booked online.
Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.
Meet your two rivals
They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.
The AI
Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.
Threat level: Low
20 could do without you
It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 41 of 100.
The robot
The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.
– how hands-on
We don't have a hands-on measure for this job.
The job, task by task
Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.
AI's favourite task here scores 34, against an average of 18. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.
- 34
Receiving immediate payment.
Low - 26
Assisting car drivers to find a parking place and ensuring that the car is not damaged during driver’s absence
Low - 20
Obtaining the materials necessary to perform services
Very Low - 19
Running errands
Very Low - 16
Approaching people on the street to offer services
Very Low - 14
Cleaning and polishing shoes
Very Low - 8
Cleaning and polishing car windows
Very Low - 8
Handing out leaflets and free newspapers
Very Low
8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's
from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use
New · the weekly task audit
Your week, your score
The score above assumes street service workers spend the same time on every task. You don't. Slide each task to how much of your week it takes, and we'll re-weight the same ILO ratings to fit your job.
- Some
- Some
- Some
- Some
- Some
- Some
- Some
- Some
Your score
82 / 100
Same as the job as a whole, so far.
Move the sliders to make it yours.
The job as a whole: 82 / 100
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Nothing you enter leaves your browser. The link just carries your slider positions.
Sidekick or replacement?
A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.
- AI helps you
- 41
- AI does it for you
- 20
Sidekick wins, by 21 points.
How good a match is this?
One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.
estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 8999
So, should street service workers be worried?
Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.
No. The most exposed tasks are taking payment and helping drivers park, both Low; errands, cleaning and handing out leaflets rate Very Low. Mobile payments change how people get paid, not the work itself.
Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.
Where this job could lead
None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →
How are the neighbours doing?
There are 33 jobs in the “Elementary occupations” family, averaging 85. This one is below the family average.
- Vehicle cleaners 91
- Water and firewood collectors 91
- Crop farm labourers 91
- Garbage and recycling collectors 91
- Civil engineering labourers 91
- Forestry labourers 91
- Building construction labourers 91
- Sweepers and related labourers 91
- Other cleaning workers 90
- Mining and quarrying labourers 89
- Odd job persons 89
- Window cleaners 89
- Fishery and aquaculture labourers 89
- Mixed crop and livestock farm laboure… 89
- Garden and horticultural labourers 88
- Cleaners and helpers in offices, hote… 88
- Livestock farm labourers 88
- Manufacturing labourers not elsewhere… 88
- Kitchen helpers 87
- Drivers of animal-drawn vehicles and … 87
- Freight handlers 86
- Domestic cleaners and helpers 86
- Hand launderers and pressers 86
- Refuse sorters 82
- Fast food preparers 82
- Hand packers 80
- Shelf fillers 80
- Street vendors (excluding food) 80