RetrainMap / Pivot Audits / Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists

The Pivot Audit · verified 2026-08-15

Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists: an honest AI-exposure audit

Research conditions in local, regional, national, or online markets. Gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or plan a marketing or advertising campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution. May employ search marketing tactics, analyze web metrics, and develop recommendations to increase search engine ranking and visibility to target markets.

How to read this page (the honest frame)
941,700
employed, US (2024) — BLS via O*NET OnLine, fetched 2026-08-15
$78,760
median annual wage (2025) — BLS OEWS via O*NET OnLine
Much faster than average (7%+)
BLS projected employment change 2024–34 · projected openings/yr: 87,200
97th
AI-exposure percentile, of 774 scored occupations — Felten–Raj–Seamans AIOE (2021 index)

The sources disagree — read this before the score scares you. The AIOE index puts this occupation at the 97th exposure percentile, yet BLS projects “Much faster than average (7% or higher)” employment change for 2024–34. Both are published numbers from serious sources; neither is a prediction about your job. A product that shows you only the scary one is selling, not informing.

USAGE

What the AI-usage data actually shows

#95
usage rank of 718 published occupations, by share of observed Claude usage matching this occupation's tasks
0.21%
of observed usage matches tasks commonly done in this occupation
54/46
augmentation vs automation split of those conversations, %

Read this correctly: it measures how often tasks like this occupation's appear in Claude conversations — not how many members of the occupation use AI; “augmentation vs automation” describes conversation styles, not job outcomes. Snapshot of period 2026-05-01; no trend exists. Source: Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 2026-08-15. The dataset's own instruction: it “cannot ground advice on career choices in either direction.”

AUDIT

What the “related occupations” pivot list really offers

Pivot tools — free and paid — typically recommend O*NET's related occupations for your job. Here is that exact list for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists, with each occupation's AI-exposure percentile attached. Judge the escape value yourself.

Zero of the 15 scored “related occupations” for this job sit below the median of AI exposure. The skills-adjacent pivot list for this occupation is sideways-or-worse — not because we say so, but because relatedness is shared task content, and exposure is a function of task content.

5 of the 20 related occupations carry no AIOE score (2018-SOC codes newer than the index) — an honest gap, labeled in the table.

#Related occupation (O*NET 30.3)AI-exposure percentile (AIOE)
1Marketing Managers89th
2Advertising and Promotions Managers88th
3Search Marketing Strategists97th
4Business Intelligence Analystsnot scored
5Management Analysts98th
6Sales Managers85th
7Data Scientistsnot scored
8Public Relations Managersnot scored
9Advertising Sales Agents81st
10Financial and Investment Analysts95th
11Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travelnot scored
12Public Relations Specialists87th
13Survey Researchers97th
14Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents85th
15Business Teachers, Postsecondary93rd
16Financial Risk Specialistsnot scored
17Writers and Authors74th
18Online Merchants77th
19Personal Financial Advisors96th
20Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products69th

Computed 2026-08-15 from O*NET 30.3 “Related Occupations” × AIOE percentiles (average-rank method; full method in the source ledger). Across all 782 scoreable occupations, an occupation's exposure percentile and its related occupations' mean exposure percentile correlate at r = 0.907; 122 of 192 top-quartile-exposed occupations (63.5%) have zero related occupations below median exposure. “Skills-adjacent and AI-safe” is a near-empty set for exactly the people searching for it.

ROUTES

The routes that actually change the number

In the data, pivots that genuinely reduce exposure are mostly job-zone jumps into hands-on work — retraining, not adjacency. That has real costs and real prices, so here they are, from the institutions' own pages. Routes below are the nearest-by-wage destinations from our audited library (exposure ≤ 60th percentile).

Radiologic Technologists and Technicians

$80,110 median wage 2025 Average (3% to 4%) · BLS 2024–34 +$1,350 vs this occupation's median

AIOE exposure: 36th percentile of 774 scored occupations · employment (2024): 228,000 · wage/outlook: BLS via O*NET OnLine, fetched 2026-08-15

What training costs (published prices, dated):

  • 2-year associate (AAS) at community colleges. No program price was re-verified today — ask your local college for the total published cost.

Respiratory Therapists

$82,280 median wage 2025 Much faster than average (7%+) · BLS 2024–34 +$3,520 vs this occupation's median

AIOE exposure: 47th percentile of 774 scored occupations · employment (2024): 139,600 · wage/outlook: BLS via O*NET OnLine, fetched 2026-08-15

What training costs (published prices, dated):

  • 2-year associate at community colleges. No program price was re-verified today.

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$64,400 median wage 2025 Average (3% to 4%) · BLS 2024–34 −$14,360 vs this occupation's median

AIOE exposure: 38th percentile of 774 scored occupations · employment (2024): 651,400 · wage/outlook: BLS via O*NET OnLine, fetched 2026-08-15

What training costs (published prices, dated):

  • Lincoln Land Community College (IL) LPN certificate — ≈$8,899 total in-district tuition and fees at the 2025–26 rate ($287/credit; 2026–27: $293/credit); books, supplies and licensing ≈$1,100 more, itemized on the page (llcc.edu, verified 2026-08-15)

Funding: training toward routes like these can be WIOA-fundable for eligible adults and dislocated workers — eligibility is determined at your local American Job Center (find yours); state Eligible Training Provider Lists name the approved programs. Registered apprenticeships are searchable at apprenticeship.gov.

The full report for Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists — $29, one-time

This free audit shows the shape. The paid report builds your priced menu: every evidenced route out of Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists with published program costs near you, earnings records where they exist (College Scorecard field-of-study / Census PSEO), apprenticeship and WIOA funding pointers, the credential ladder, and the same honest exposure read — every figure sourced and dated. No score theater, no “safe jobs” list the data cannot support.

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Sources for this page