# Tree Trimmers and Pruners

> Using sophisticated climbing and rigging techniques, cut away dead or excess branches from trees or shrubs to maintain right-of-way for roads, sidewalks, or utilities, or to improve appearance, health, and value of tree. Prune or treat trees or shrubs using handsaws, hand pruners, clippers, and power pruners. Works off the ground in the tree canopy and may use truck-mounted lifts.

- **SOC code:** 37-3013.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-37-3013-00
- **Also known as:** Arborist, Groundsman, Tree Climber, Tree Trimmer, Climber, Grounds Worker, Laborer, Plant Health Care Technician
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Operate shredding and chipping equipment, and feed limbs and brush into the machines.
- Operate boom trucks, loaders, stump chippers, brush chippers, tractors, power saws, trucks, sprayers, and other equipment and tools.
- Clean, sharpen, and lubricate tools and equipment.
- Cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers.
- Hoist tools and equipment to tree trimmers, and lower branches with ropes or block and tackle.
- Climb trees, using climbing hooks and belts, or climb ladders to gain access to work areas.
- Supervise others engaged in tree trimming work and train lower-level employees.
- Trim, top, and reshape trees to achieve attractive shapes or to remove low-hanging branches.
- Plan and develop budgets for tree work, and estimate the monetary value of trees.
- Load debris and refuse onto trucks and haul it away for disposal.
- Inspect trees to determine if they have diseases or pest problems.
- Prune, cut down, fertilize, and spray trees as directed by tree surgeons.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Control Precision _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Multilimb Coordination _(ability)_
- Reaction Time _(ability)_
- Operation and Control _(transferable_skill)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Static Strength _(ability)_
- Extent Flexibility _(ability)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Depth Perception _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Facebook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 3rd percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 3rd percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 10th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 5th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 62nd percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.3% growth (About average); 7.4k annual openings; 60.1k → 62.1k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $50,430; 47,870 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-37-3013-00_