Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code RIC
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
Perform routine medical laboratory tests for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. May work under the supervision of a medical technologist.
Also called: Clinical Lab Tech (Clinical Laboratory Technician), Lab Tech (Laboratory Technician), Medical Technician (Medical Tech), MLT (Medical Laboratory Technician), Lab Assistant (Laboratory Assistant), Lab Associate (Laboratory Associate), Medical Lab Assistant (Medical Laboratory Assistant), Microbiology MLT (Microbiology Medical Laboratory Technician).
O*NET 29-2012.00
At a glance
- 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.
- Perform quality control analyses to ensure accuracy of test results.
- Conduct blood tests for transfusion purposes and perform blood counts.
- Conduct chemical analyses of body fluids, such as blood or urine, using microscope or automatic analyzer to detect abnormalities or diseases and enter findings into computer.
- Analyze the results of tests or experiments to ensure conformity to specifications, using special mechanical or electrical devices.
- Set up, maintain, calibrate, clean, and test sterility of medical laboratory equipment.
- Obtain specimens, cultivating, isolating, and identifying microorganisms for analysis.
- Examine cells stained with dye to locate abnormalities.
- Collect blood or tissue samples from patients, observing principles of asepsis to obtain blood sample.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
- Active Listening3.6 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.3 / 5
- Speaking3.1 / 5
- Writing3.0 / 5
- Science3.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Chemistry4.0 / 5
- English Language4.0 / 5
- Biology3.7 / 5
- Medicine and Dentistry3.7 / 5
- Education and Training3.5 / 5
- Computers and Electronics3.5 / 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.
- Realistic84
- Investigative82
- Artistic0
- Social31
- Enterprising0
- Conventional64
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)
- scientific laboratory technician · DE Labortechniker Biowissenschaften/Labortechnikerin Biowissenschaften · FR technicien de laboratoire scientifique/technicienne de laboratoire scientifique
- bacteriology technician · DE Bakteriologietechniker/Bakteriologietechnikerin · FR technicien bactériologiste/technicienne bactériologiste
- biochemistry technician · DE Biochemietechniker/Biochemietechnikerin · FR technicien/technicienne biochimiste
- biomedical scientist · DE Biomedizintechniker/Biomedizintechnikerin · FR technicien de biologie médicale/technicienne de biologie médicale
- anatomical pathology technician · DE Pathologieassistent/Pathologieassistentin · FR technicien en anatomopathologie/technicienne en anatomopathologie
- cytology screener · DE Zytologieassistent/Zytologieassistentin · FR technicien en dépistage cytologique/technicienne en dépistage cytologique
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Laboratory technicians (3111)51,100 employed
- Biochemists and biomedical scientists (2113)68,000 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.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.13. 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 (29-2012).
Related careers
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