Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CRE

Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

Schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal installation, service, or emergency repairs rendered outside the place of business. Duties may include using radio, telephone, or computer to transmit assignments and compiling statistics and reports on work progress.

Also called: City Dispatcher, Dispatcher (Dispatch), Taxi Dispatcher, Train Dispatcher, Aircraft Dispatcher, Charter Coordinator, Mine Dispatcher, Paratransit Dispatcher.

O*NET 43-5032.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $50,340; Middle half earn $42,750 to $62,450. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 47% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.
Prepare daily work and run schedules.
Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.
Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.
Oversee all communications within specifically assigned territories.
Receive or prepare work orders.
Record and maintain files or records of customer requests, work or services performed, charges, expenses, inventory, or other dispatch information.
Arrange for necessary repairs to restore service and schedules.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Monitoring3.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
Public Safety and Security4.0 / 5
Administration and Management3.9 / 5
Administrative3.7 / 5
English Language3.5 / 5
Transportation3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic71
Investigative7
Artistic0
Social28
Enterprising32
Conventional73

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

ship pilot dispatcher · DE Einsatzleiter im Hafenlotsendienst/Einsatzleiterin im Hafenlotsendienst · FR coordinateur des pilotes de navire/coordinatrice des pilotes de navire
taxi controller · DE Funkbediener im Taxibetrieb/Funkbedienerin im Taxibetrieb · FR standardiste dans une société de taxis
vessel operations coordinator · DE Transportkoordinator Seefracht/Transportkoordinatorin Seefracht · FR coordinateur d’opérations navires/coordinatrice d’opérations navires
aircraft dispatcher · DE Flugdienstberater/Flugdienstberaterin · FR régulateur de vols/régulatrice de vols
bus route supervisor · DE Fahrdienstleiter Busverkehr/Fahrdienstleiterin Busverkehr · FR responsable exploitation bus
freight transport dispatcher · DE Frachtdisponent/Frachtdisponentin · FR dispatcheur transport de marchandises/dispatcheuse transport de marchandises

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Elementary storage occupations n.e.c. (9259)12,000 employed
Delivery operatives (9253)21,800 employed
Warehouse operatives (9252)383,400 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Clerical support workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Clerical support workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€40,035
Austria	€38,296
Germany	€37,844
Netherlands	€35,854
Sweden	€33,483
Ireland	€32,144
Italy	€29,311
France	€25,943
Spain	€22,026
Portugal	€12,602
Poland	€10,250

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.23. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-5032).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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