# Funeral Attendants

> Perform a variety of tasks during funeral, such as placing casket in parlor or chapel prior to service, arranging floral offerings or lights around casket, directing or escorting mourners, closing casket, and issuing and storing funeral equipment.

- **SOC code:** 39-4021.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-4021-00
- **Also known as:** Funeral Assistant, Funeral Attendant, Funeral Director, Funeral Home Assistant, Funeral Associate, Funeral Greeter, Funeral Home Associate, Funeral Home Attendant
- **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):
- Embalm, dress, cosmeticize, and casket the deceased.
- Prepare obituaries for newspapers.
- Transport the deceased to the funeral home.
- Obtain doctors' signatures on death certificate and complete other paperwork, such as insurance claims forms.
- Obtain burial permits and register deaths.
- Greet people at the funeral home.
- Assist with cremations and the processing and packaging of cremated remains.
- Perform a variety of tasks during funerals to assist funeral directors and to ensure that services run smoothly and as planned.
- Close caskets at appropriate point in services.
- Attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after-care programs.
- Direct or escort mourners to parlors or chapels in which wakes or funerals are being held.
- Place caskets in parlors or chapels prior to wakes or funerals.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Administrative _(knowledge)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Speech Clarity _(ability)_
- Transportation _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Bookkeeping software
- iCIMS Talent Cloud software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 38th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 33rd percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 23rd percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 63rd percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 42nd percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.1% growth (About average); 5.7k annual openings; 32.5k → 33.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $34,610; 30,560 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 47% automation, 25% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.5 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Perform various administrative tasks, such as typing documents or answering telephone calls. _(1.4% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after care programs. _(0.6% of measured AI use; none)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me perform various administrative tasks, such as typing documents or answering telephone calls.
- Help me attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after care programs.

## 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-39-4021-00_