Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SRI
Emergency Medical Technicians
Assess injuries and illnesses and administer basic emergency medical care. May transport injured or sick persons to medical facilities.
Also called: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), First Responder.
O*NET 29-2042.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $44,470
- Middle half earn $37,960 to $50,100. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium 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.
- Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.
- Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.
- Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge.
- Comfort and reassure patients.
- Communicate with dispatchers or treatment center personnel to provide information about situation, to arrange reception of survivors, or to receive instructions for further treatment.
- Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.
- Decontaminate ambulance interior following treatment of patient with infectious disease, and report case to proper authorities.
- Drive mobile intensive care unit to specified location, following instructions from emergency medical dispatcher.
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.
- Realistic74
- Investigative60
- Artistic0
- Social76
- Enterprising9
- Conventional46
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)
- emergency ambulance driver · DE Rettungshelfer/Rettungshelferin · FR ambulancier urgentiste/ambulancière urgentiste
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Paramedics (2255)37,800 employed
- Ambulance staff (excluding paramedics) (6132)31,800 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 “Technicians and associate professionals”. 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.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €50,992 |
| Austria | €46,986 |
| Germany | €44,473 |
| Netherlands | €42,448 |
| Ireland | €41,613 |
| Sweden | €41,155 |
| Italy | €34,882 |
| France | €34,816 |
| Spain | €29,757 |
| Portugal | €18,080 |
| Poland | €12,108 |
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.
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