Import-Export Specialist
| Median wage (USD) | 52260 |
|---|---|
| Projected employment growth (%) | 6 |
| AI exposure (%) | 58 |
| Maximum exposure (%) | 83 |
| Source | eloundou |
| What AI changes in this occupation | Writing shipping documents — bills of lading, packing lists, certificates of origin —, filling in customs declarations, freight invoices and quotations and shipment status notifications are moving to international-trade platforms that produce and check them automatically BLS still projects 6% growth from 2025 to 2035 — 100,300 jobs rising to 106,500 — because the volume of international trade keeps growing: the pressure comes not from falling activity but from the fact that the documentation work, the part beginners are trained on, is the most automatable Negotiating rates with carriers, arranging transport for sensitive or perishable cargo, choosing the route when a port jams and owning a shipment stuck in customs remain human — that is where the value is, and where the transition happens |
| Key skills | International trade documents (bill of lading, certificate of origin, letter of credit) · tariff classification and rules of origin · AI-assisted customs clearance · rate negotiation with carriers · mode and route selection · Incoterms · sensitive or perishable cargo · shipment tracking and dashboards · export compliance (goods controls, sanctions, licences) · business English |
| Courses to get ahead | Supply Chain Logistics · Coursera · Self-paced, about 10 hours in total · 90 · The logistics foundation: how freight moves, what each mode costs and how the total cost of a shipment is built. Modules cover carriers, inventory and warehousing — enough to understand what you are negotiating instead of accepting a portal's ready-made quotation. Import, Export, and Logistics Management · GetSmarter (University of Cape Town) · 11 weeks at 7-10 hours a week · 88 · The only course in this selection that covers international trade end to end, with two modules squarely on the job: "Documentation and customs in international trade" and "Fundamentals of Incoterms". It is a paid university short course — check the fee before enrolling. Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills · Coursera · 7 weeks at about 1 hour 15 a week · 86 · The highest-scoring task on the O*NET card — negotiating rates with freight carriers, importance 91/100 — is precisely the one that resists automation. This University of Michigan course works on real cases: preparation, concessions, closing. Supply Chain Planning · Coursera · 4 weeks at 2-3 hours a week · 84 Supply Chain Analytics · Coursera · Self-paced, about 9 hours in total · 80 International Business I · Coursera · Self-paced, about 8 hours in total · 78 |
| Occupations to pivot toward | Logistician · 82320 · 18 · 45 Compliance Officer · 80730 · 4 · 61 Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk · 47600 · -6 · 36 |
| Skills to acquire for the pivot | Eloundou measures this occupation's exposure at 58% (human β) and up to 83% (human ζ): preparing shipping documents, customs formalities, applicable duties and taxes, freight invoices and quotations, weight and volume calculations and shipment status notifications are largely delegable to AI, but negotiating rates with carriers, arranging transport for sensitive cargo, choosing the route, reserving space and consolidating loads remain human. The β of 58% places the occupation above logisticians (45), purchasing agents (37) and shipping and receiving clerks (36), but below mortgage loan officers (65) and tax examiners (68); it is close to compliance officers (61) and insurance sales agents (53), which matches the nature of the work: a paperwork-and-regulation job before it is a relationship job. A notable gap with the parent group: O*NET-SOC 43-5011.00 "Cargo and Freight Agents" measures 27/45, while the detailed occupation 43-5011.01 "Freight Forwarders" — the one carrying the titles "Import Agent", "Export Coordinator" and "Ocean Export Specialist" — measures 58/83, and that detailed card is the one describing this job. Method note: O*NET lists 31 scored tasks (23 core, 8 supplemental), and the exposed/resistant split (58/42) follows their importance scores — the highest are negotiating shipping rates with freight carriers (91/100), arranging special transport of sensitive cargoes (88/100), duties, taxes and customs clearance paperwork (88/100), informing clients about options and regulations (88/100) and preparing shipping documentation (88/100). The GPT-4 self-rated series (β 58, ζ 100) is kept in expositionGpt4 and is not displayed, in line with the decision of 21 August 2026. BLS does not publish a narrative OOH page for group 43-5011 "Cargo and Freight Agents": the salary and the projection come from the Occupational Outlook Handbook page "Data for occupations not covered in detail", which covers both 43-5011.00 and 43-5011.01. The outlook is positive — 6% growth from 2025 to 2035, 6,200 more jobs, from 100,300 jobs in 2025, a pace labelled "faster than average" — and that sets this occupation apart from the other desk jobs in the repository: the volume of international trade keeps growing, and the pressure comes not from falling activity but from the automation of the documentation side. The profile is the opposite of bill and account collectors (-10%) or telemarketers (-21%): employment holds, but the task shifts from filling in forms to negotiation, routing decisions and incident handling. The three pivots frame the way out: logisticians ($82,320, +18%) are the natural progression, compliance officers ($80,730, +4%) the regulatory specialisation, and shipping, receiving and inventory clerks ($47,600, -6%) the step below — lower paid, and less exposed too (36). The median salary for import-export specialists is $52,260 a year, the May 2025 figure from the BLS OEWS survey published on the "Data for occupations not covered in detail" page (code 43-5011). The job typically requires a high school diploma and short-term on-the-job training: it is one of the few desk occupations in the repository open without a bachelor's degree, and it pays above the material recording clerks group ($47,600) but far below logisticians ($82,320) and compliance officers ($80,730), both of which require a bachelor's degree. The $30,000 gap with logisticians is the real issue on this card: the two jobs handle the same material — shipments and costs — but one keys in the documents and the other decides the chain. The scores of the six courses are editorial estimates, as on the other cards; salary, growth, exposure and tasks all come from a named source. |
| GPT-4 exposure — beta / zeta (%) | 58 · 100 |