Database administrator
AI displacement risk
49%
Range 44.35–53.59%
Database administrator has 90% AI task overlap with only 16% human bottleneck protection — higher risk than 93% of occupations in the live market. Structural displacement pressure is significant.
Professionals·SGD 6,717/mo (3,440–10,264)·~4.2K workers in SG·Updated 2026-06-11
Structural pressure, not a prediction of job loss. Displacement tends to arrive through slower hiring, wage compression and role redesign before layoffs.
Why This Score
90% of tasks overlap with current AI
16% human advantage from judgment & presence
62% demand buffer from the local labour market
These factors interact with each other — the final score is not a simple sum of these bars.
How much AI overlaps with this job's tasks, offset by human advantages and local demand. Score stability: watch. How this works
Tasks AI can handle
With 90% AI task overlap (based on Felten AIOE and ILO occupational exposure), the Database administrator tasks most exposed include: code generation, test writing, documentation, code review suggestions, and debugging common patterns.
- • Test programs or databases, correct errors, and make necessary modifications.
- • Plan and install upgrades of database management system software to enhance database performance.
- • Modify existing databases and database management systems or direct programmers and analysts to make changes.
O*NET tasks for this occupation with the most observed AI usage (Anthropic task data).
What AI can't do here
At 16% human bottleneck protection, the tasks that remain hardest to automate for Database administrator include: system architecture decisions, complex debugging in production, cross-team coordination, requirements gathering, and security-critical code review.
- • Develop data models describing data elements and how they are used, following procedures and using pen, template, or computer software.
- • Select and enter codes to monitor database performance and to create production databases.
Highest-importance tasks with no observed AI usage in the same data — absence of observed usage, not proof of immunity.
Skills to focus on
Dell'Acqua et al. (2023) found consultants using AI improved quality 12-40% depending on task boundary — but performance dropped when AI was used outside its capability frontier ("jagged frontier" effect).
Sources: Felten AIOE (2021), ILO GenAI (2025), Pizzinelli et al. bottleneck model. Full methodology.
Singapore Now
Current labour market conditions and how they affect this role.
Cooling, but not collapsing. Vacancies and re-entry are softer, yet retrenchment remains low and hiring still exceeds resignations.
Vacancy
3.1%
↓ 3.1% YoY
Hiring
1.5%
vs 0.9% resign
Retrenchment
1.5
per 1,000 · low
Re-entry
67.7%
find work in 12mo· -5.3pp
Professionals, Managers, Executives & Technicians · 2025 Q4
Top Industries
Industry vacancy overlays use the latest published detailed cross-tab, which can lag the main labour monitor.
What You Can Do
Database administrator has some offset potential, but it depends on transition pathways holding up in practice and on workers clearing the main switching frictions.
Published transition support
Related roles you could transition to
Risk-reducingHigh displacement pressure, but comparatively credible risk-reducing moves exist — the strongest scores 71% match. Escape-route quality, not pressure alone, shapes how risk resolves.
Compare within Professionals
Modern roles using this occupation
See how this compares to similar occupations
Compare with... →Classification
Higher risk than 93% of occupations · V7 structural score
Raw scores
AIOE 1.285 · θ 0.627 · C-AIOE 1.103
Stability
watch · Optimistic 49% · Pessimistic 61%
Score range (best/worst case)
Exposure 85–92% · Net risk 44.35–53.59%
Scoring basis
V7 structural score. Uses task-concentration-weighted exposure, human bottleneck, and demand resilience. V6 baseline fields are retained for release-to-release comparison.-5.5pp versus retained V6 baseline.
Wage range (SGD/mo)
25th 3,440 · Median 6,717 · 75th 10,264
Evidence & sources
Data matching
direct · SSOC 25211
Data quality
78% · Matching 1.00 · Market data 0.70 · Freshness 0.75
Capped at high · Final rating: medium · capped for sparse source coverage
91% weighted task match · 34% effective coverage
AI overlap by data source
Weights: aioe 47% · ilo 53%
Conflicting data signals
Tools & offset factors
Common tools (O*NET proxy)
What could slow it down
- Current demand support is thin, so offsets may take longer to show up.
Worker profile & local context
- Vacancy rate is 3.1% and was essentially flat versus last quarter.
- Hiring read: recruitment is running above resignation (1.5% vs 0.9%).
- Retrenchment was low at 1.5 per 1,000 employees.
- 67.7% of retrenched workers re-entered employment within 12 months.
- Live job ads show 0 visible postings in the last 30 days, led by SQL, Python, GCP.
- Employer pressure is moderate, based on 7 recent Singapore-relevant company signals.
Worker profile
Gender mix
70% male / 30% femalePublished Singapore worker composition for the detailed occupation family 25 Information & Communications Technology Professionals.
Employment structure
Employee-heavy96% employees, 4% employers or self-employed workers.
Work arrangement
Mostly full-time4% part-time and 96% full-time in 2025.
Age profile
Mid-career heavy14% aged 15 to 29, 62% aged 30 to 49, and 24% aged 50 or older.
Qualification mix
Degree-heavyDegree 81%; Diploma / professional qualification 15%.
Gross wage by sex
Female median 58% lowerPublished June 2024 gross wage medians: male $9,870, female $4,115.
Where this work is concentrated
Top planning areas
Sengkang, Bedok, Tampines19% of workers in this occupation group live in these three planning areas.
Residential concentration
Broadly distributed30% live across the top five planning areas in the 2020 Census.
Commute pattern
Mid-range commutesEstimated average commute 37.5 minutes. 33% take 46 minutes or more.
Role profile
How this role's work breaks down across key dimensions. This is a general profile, not an individual measurement.
Workflow dimensions (0 = low, 1 = high)
How this changes by career stage
Senior workers benefit from institutional knowledge and judgment that AI cannot replicate. Entry-level roles have higher task overlap with AI.
Frequently asked questions
Will AI replace Database administrator?
Database administrator has 90% AI task overlap with only 16% human bottleneck protection — higher risk than 93% of occupations in the live market. Structural displacement pressure is significant. Net displacement risk: 49% (High). Median wage: SGD 6,717/month.
What is the AI risk score for Database administrator?
Database administrator has an AI displacement risk of 49%, rated High. AI task overlap: 90%. Human advantage: 16%. Local demand buffer: 62%.
What career transitions are available for Database administrator?
Database administrator has modeled transition pathways to related occupations. The strongest adjacent pathway is Cloud specialist, based on skill and wage similarity (model-estimated). Transition scoring accounts for wage preservation, training ease, and destination quality.
How does Database administrator salary compare in the live market?
Database administrator earns a median gross wage of SGD 6,717/month in the live market (25th-75th percentile: SGD 3,440-10,264). This is 49% above median across all 562 scored occupations, and 3% above group median within Professionals occupations.