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Veterinarians vs Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Veterinarians and Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers 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.”

Veterinarians Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$125,510
$37,320
Employment · BLS OEWS
80,630
114,190
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
53rd pct
6th pct

At a glance

Dimension Veterinarians Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
Median pay $125,510 $37,320
Employment 80,630 114,190
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+9.6%) Growing fast (+8.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,000 22,200
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree). Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 53rd pct Low · 6th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 15th pct · 14% of tasks 15th pct · 14% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (64.5%) Augmentation-leaning (54.2%)
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: Biology, Medicine and Dentistry, Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Active Learning, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Near Vision, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Written Expression, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Writing, Service Orientation, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Time Management, Category Flexibility, Flexibility of Closure, Coordination, Selective Attention.

Specific to Veterinarians

  • Science
  • Mathematics
  • Education and Training
  • Chemistry
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Administration and Management
  • Mathematics
  • Psychology

Specific to Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers

  • Administrative
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Trunk Strength
  • Extent Flexibility

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: Data base user interface and query software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Medical software .

Specific to Veterinarians

Specific to Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Veterinarians or Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers — 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. "Veterinarians vs Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers." 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; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); 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/veterinarians-vs-veterinary-assistants-and-laboratory-animal-caretakers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Veterinarians vs Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/veterinarians-vs-veterinary-assistants-and-laboratory-animal-caretakers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-veterinarians-vs-veterinary-assistants-and-laboratory-animal-caretakers,
  title  = {Veterinarians vs Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); 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/veterinarians-vs-veterinary-assistants-and-laboratory-animal-caretakers}
}

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