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Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation vs Agricultural Equipment Operators

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation and Agricultural Equipment Operators on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation Agricultural Equipment Operators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$45,200
$42,580
Employment · BLS OEWS
25,200
30,940
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
23rd pct
23rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation Agricultural Equipment Operators
Median pay $45,200 $42,580
Employment 25,200 30,940
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.8%) Growing fast (+7.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 4,100 10,500
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 23rd pct Low · 23rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 12th pct · 13% of tasks 23rd pct · 17% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Near Vision, English Language, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Control Precision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Public Safety and Security, Critical Thinking, Oral Expression, Manual Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Mathematics, Mechanical, Social Perceptiveness, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Static Strength, Depth Perception.

Specific to Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Biology
  • Production and Processing
  • Administration and Management
  • Speaking
  • Time Management
  • Education and Training
  • Written Comprehension

Specific to Agricultural Equipment Operators

  • Far Vision
  • Response Orientation
  • Rate Control
  • Reaction Time
  • Troubleshooting
  • Trunk Strength
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Speech Clarity

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation

Specific to Agricultural Equipment Operators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation or Agricultural Equipment Operators — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation vs Agricultural Equipment Operators." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/pesticide-handlers-sprayers-and-applicators-vegetation-vs-agricultural-equipment-operators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation vs Agricultural Equipment Operators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/pesticide-handlers-sprayers-and-applicators-vegetation-vs-agricultural-equipment-operators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-pesticide-handlers-sprayers-and-applicators-vegetation-vs-agricultural-equipment-operators,
  title  = {Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation vs Agricultural Equipment Operators},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/pesticide-handlers-sprayers-and-applicators-vegetation-vs-agricultural-equipment-operators}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.