What this occupation does
Cashiers receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions, typically processing customer payments, returns, and exchanges. The role spans point-of-sale operation, customer interaction, cash handling, and basic store-level support.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places cashiers in the high exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places cashiers in the high exposure gradient. Point-of-sale automation (self-checkout, mobile payment) is the dominant disruption; generative AI compounds this where stores deploy AI-assisted customer service. Complex refunds and multi-issue complaints remain human-led, and in-person greeting and store presence are the growing tasks.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 5230 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Displaceable: Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits. Self-checkout and AI-assisted payment are widely deployed; routine transactions are in scope.
- Changing: Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers. Standard issuance is automated; complex refunds remain human-led at most stores.
- Growing: Greet customers entering establishments. In-person greeting and store presence are physical, contextually constrained, and augmentation-prone.
- Changing: Resolve customer complaints. AI handles standard complaints; complex multi-issue complaints remain human-led.
- Growing: Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas. Physical store maintenance is contextually constrained and augmentation-prone.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035 outlook for cashiers is decline (-6% projected change). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: Empathy and active listening, Technological literacy, Resilience, flexibility and agility. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 notes cashier-style tasks are among the most-exposed in retail. The dominant disruption is point-of-sale automation; generative AI compounds it through customer-service deployment.
Cashiers in the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025
Cashiers and ticket clerks top the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 chart of the largest declining jobs in absolute numbers (Figure 2.4), and rank fourth on its fastest-declining list by net change (Figure 2.2), projected to fall about 20% by 2030. The report names broadening digital access, AI and information-processing technologies, and robots and autonomous systems as the main drivers of the decline in clerical roles. Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (January 2025). The WEF lists are occupation-family level and global, ranked by change to 2030; they are distinct from the BLS 2025-2035 US projection above. The full named declining and growing lists are on what is growing.
How many cashier jobs are projected to disappear? The BLS 2025-2035 figures
In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects cashier employment to decline 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, from about 3.1 million jobs in 2025, with a median annual wage of $32,880 (May 2025). Because the occupation is so large and turnover is high, BLS still expects about 521,300 openings a year over the decade, nearly all of them replacing cashiers who leave rather than new positions.
The decline is a shrinking, not a wipe-out. At task level the exposed work is payment processing and routine transactions; greeting customers and in-store presence are the tasks this page classifies as growing, and complex refunds and multi-issue complaints remain human-led at most stores. Globally, the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 figures above point the same way.
Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Cashiers; WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 (PDF), Figures 2.2 and 2.4.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Customer Service Representatives
- Administrative Assistants
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
- Construction Laborers
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Retail industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2025-2035 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.