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Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers

Occupation · SOC 31-9096.00

Feed, water, and examine pets and other nonfarm animals for signs of illness, disease, or injury in laboratories and animal hospitals and clinics. Clean and disinfect cages and work areas, and sterilize laboratory and surgical equipment. May provide routine postoperative care, administer medication orally or topically, or prepare samples for laboratory examination under the supervision of veterinary or laboratory animal technologists or technicians, veterinarians, or scientists.

Also called: Animal Care Provider · Animal Caregiver · Certified Veterinary Assistant · Veterinarian Assistant (Vet Assistant) · Avian Keeper · Emergency Veterinary Assistant · Inpatient Technician Assistant · Kennel Vet Assistant (Kennel Veterinary Assistant) · Research Animal Attendant · Small Animal Caretaker · Animal Care Service Worker · Animal Care Specialist

Job family: Healthcare Support Occupations

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Download .md

A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-31-9096-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Often handed to AI

Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.

  • Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. · 0.4%
See how AI is used here →

Use as a copilot

Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.

  • Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. · 2.7%
See collaboration patterns →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. · 96.7% need a human
  • Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. · 90.5% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

20th-percentile task overlap — yet about 22,200 openings a year (+8.7% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 5417% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Low 26th -0.8
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate 34th 0.3
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Low 6th 0.0

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.2), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.3). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Mixed signals. Today's AI/LLM studies show relatively low exposure for this job, but the older (2013) Frey–Osborne work rated it higher for computerization and robotics. Different eras, different technologies — the AI measures above reflect the current state.

Historical automation estimate (2013)

A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.

Frey–Osborne probability 0.9 · 72nd percentile among occupations · High

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. 2.0%
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. 0.9%
Perform accounting duties, such as bookkeeping, billing customers for services, or maintaining inventories. 0.8%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook Growing fast · +8.7% by 2034
Projected annual openings 22,200
Employment 2024 → 2034 117,800 → 128,100

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international 2 occupations below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

14% mean task exposure (2025)
15th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+0 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Veterinary Technicians and Assistants · 3240 14% Not exposed
Pet Groomers and Animal Care Workers · 5164 14% Not exposed

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 54.2% working with AI · 29.8% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy 3.5 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) 5.8%

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. Learning 2.7%
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. Directive 0.4%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. 96.7%
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. 90.5%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems.

    From: Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems. · 2.7% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties.

    From: Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties. · 0.4% of measured AI use · directive

Tasks

All 28 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service 4.3
English Language 3.8
Biology 3.6
Administrative 3.5
Medicine and Dentistry 3.5
Computers and Electronics 3.2

Essential skills

Active Listening 3.5
Critical Thinking 3.3
Reading Comprehension 3.1
Writing 3.1
Monitoring 3.1
Speaking 3.0
Active Learning 2.9

Abilities

Oral Comprehension 3.4
Oral Expression 3.4
Written Expression 3.3
Problem Sensitivity 3.3
Information Ordering 3.3
Deductive Reasoning 3.1
Manual Dexterity 3.1
Near Vision 3.1
Written Comprehension 3.0
Inductive Reasoning 3.0
Flexibility of Closure 3.0
Selective Attention 3.0
Arm-Hand Steadiness 3.0
Finger Dexterity 3.0
Multilimb Coordination 3.0
Trunk Strength 3.0
Extent Flexibility 3.0
Speech Recognition 3.0
Speech Clarity 3.0
Category Flexibility 2.9

Transferable skills

Service Orientation 3.1
Social Perceptiveness 3.0
Coordination 3.0
Time Management 3.0
Instructing 2.9
Complex Problem Solving 2.9
Judgment and Decision Making 2.9

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Microsoft Access Data base user interface and query software Hot technology
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology
Microsoft Outlook Electronic mail software Hot technology
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation software Hot technology
Microsoft Word Word processing software Hot technology
IDEXX Laboratories IDEXX Cornerstone Medical software
Labeling software Label making software
McAllister Software Systems AVImark Medical software
Practice management software PMS Medical software
Scheduling software Calendar and scheduling software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 4.9
Spend Time Standing 4.8
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.7
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.5
Contact With Others 4.5
Exposed to Disease or Infections 4.4
Telephone Conversations 4.4
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets 4.4
Physical Proximity 4.3
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 4.3
Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings 4.3
Frequency of Decision Making 4.2
Exposed to Contaminants 4.2
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 4.2
Spend Time Walking or Running 4.1
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 4.0
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 4.0
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 3.9
Time Pressure 3.8
Exposed to Radiation 3.8
Consequence of Error 3.8
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 3.7
Wear Specialized Protective or Safety Equipment such as Breathing Apparatus, Safety Harness, Full Protection Suits, or Radiation Protection 3.7
E-Mail 3.6
Exposed to Cramped Work Space, Awkward Positions 3.6
Spend Time Kneeling, Crouching, Stooping, or Crawling 3.6
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 3.5
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 3.5
Freedom to Make Decisions 3.5
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 3.3
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 3.3
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 3.3
Conflict Situations 3.2
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 3.2
Written Letters and Memos 3.0
Health and Safety of Other Workers 3.0
Exposed to Hazardous Conditions 3.0
Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions 2.7
Spend Time Keeping or Regaining Balance 2.6
Level of Competition 2.5

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
Education
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Typical entry-level education
High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Preparation level
SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

High School Diploma 78.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate 10.9%
Less than a High School Diploma 6.4%
Some College Courses 3.7%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate 0.5%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) 0.3%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Realistic 6.3
Investigative 4.3
Conventional 4.0
Social 3.5

Interest areas

Animal Service 6.3
Health Care Service 5.0
Life Science 4.0
Physical/Manual Labor 3.9
Medical Science 3.5
Personal Service 2.4
Office Work 2.0

Work styles

Dependability 5.0
Attention to Detail 4.0
Integrity 3.0
Cooperation 2.3
Self-Control 2.0

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$29k10th$34k25th$37kMedian$45k75th$48k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
118k2024128k2034 (proj.)+8.7% · Growing fast
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $29,160
25th percentile $34,320
Median (50th) $37,320
75th percentile $44,550
90th percentile $48,150
People employed 114,190

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 103,290 $37,110
Veterinary Services · National industry 101,800 $37,070
Educational Services · Sector 5,090 $47,670
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 2,820 $36,760
Retail Trade · Sector 1,740 $41,490
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 330 $48,350
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 320 $47,810
Manufacturing · Sector 70 $47,420
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 70 $42,960
Temporary Help Services · National industry $47,810

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Veterinary Services · National industry 296.38× 101,800
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 12.95× 103,290
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 0.86× 2,820
Educational Services · Sector 0.5× 5,090
Retail Trade · Sector 0.15× 1,740
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 0.05× 320
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 0.02× 330

Part of the Agriculture and Healthcare & Human Services career clusters.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers sits at the 20th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 8th percentile of median pay, placed here against 10 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers Surgical Assistants Nursing Assistants Phlebotomists Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses Veterinary Technologists and Technicians Animal Caretakers Veterinarians AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Skills that travel

Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.

Paths in

How people typically prepare for this work.

Zoom out

On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 15th percentile of 427 international occupations.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers show 20th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 22,200 annual U.S. openings

  • Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers rank in the 20th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 22,200 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+8.7%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $37,320, across about 114,190 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 54% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers show 20th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 22,200 annual U.S. openings

• Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers rank in the 20th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 22,200 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+8.7%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $37,320, across about 114,190 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 54% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9096-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

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. "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/roles/role-31-9096-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9096-00

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-31-9096-00,
  title  = {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/roles/role-31-9096-00}
}

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

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