Often handed to AI
Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. · 0.6%
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers
Occupation · SOC 39-4031.00
Perform various tasks to arrange and direct individual funeral services, such as coordinating transportation of body to mortuary, interviewing family or other authorized person to arrange details, selecting pallbearers, aiding with the selection of officials for religious rites, and providing transportation for mourners.
Also called: Funeral Arranger · Funeral Counselor · Funeral Director · Mortician · Funeral Arrangement Director · Funeral Family Service Assistant · Funeral Location Manager · Funeral Prearrangement Counselor · Licensed Funeral Director · Licensed Mortician · Arranger · Cemetery Manager
Job family: Personal Care and Service Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-39-4031-00/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.
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.
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. · 98.2% need a human
Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+3.1% by 2034)
- 3,200 openings/yr
- Low AI exposure
- Observed AI use leans automation
- Median pay $49,800/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
32nd-percentile task overlap — yet about 3,200 openings a year (+3.1% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 3036% 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.) Moderate | 43rd | -0.2 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Low | 27th | 0.2 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Low | 33rd | 0.1 |
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 0.2). 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.
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.
| Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. | 1.2% | |
| Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services. | 0.3% | |
| Maintain financial records, order merchandise, or prepare accounts. | 0.2% | |
| Plan, schedule, or coordinate funerals, burials, or cremations, arranging details such as floral delivery or the time and place of services. | 0.2% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +3.1% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 3,200 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 27,500 → 28,400 |
“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 occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers sits at the 21st percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure rose from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
17% mean task exposure (2025)
21st percentile of 427 placed occupations
+6 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Undertakers and Embalmers · 5163 | 17% | 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 | 30.4% working with AI · 50.0% handed to AI |
| Most common way people use AI here | Directive · AI does it; you give the instruction |
| Typical AI autonomy | 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. | Directive | 0.6% |
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.
| Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. | 98.2% |
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 offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends.From: Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. · 0.6% of measured AI use · directive
Tasks
All 22 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died. Core · importance 4.8
- Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits. Core · importance 4.8
- Perform embalming duties, as necessary. Core · importance 4.8
- Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services. Core · importance 4.8
- Remove deceased remains from place of death. Core · importance 4.7
- Contact cemeteries to schedule the opening and closing of graves. Core · importance 4.7
- Plan, schedule, or coordinate funerals, burials, or cremations, arranging details such as floral delivery or the time and place of services. Core · importance 4.6
- Close caskets and lead funeral corteges to churches or burial sites. Core · importance 4.5
- Provide information on funeral service options, products, or merchandise, and maintain a casket display area. Core · importance 4.5
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. Core · importance 4.5
- Direct preparations and shipment of bodies for out-of-state burial. Core · importance 4.3
- Discuss and negotiate prearranged funerals with clients. Core · importance 4.2
- Maintain financial records, order merchandise, or prepare accounts. Core · importance 4.2
- Provide or arrange transportation between sites for the remains, mourners, pallbearers, clergy, or flowers. Core · importance 4.1
- Arrange for clergy members to perform needed services. Core · importance 4.1
- Plan placement of caskets at funeral sites or place or adjust lights, fixtures, or floral displays. Core · importance 4.1
- Clean funeral home facilities and grounds. Core · importance 3.9
- Manage funeral home operations, including the hiring, training, or supervision of embalmers, funeral attendants, or other staff. Supplemental · importance 3.8
- Inform survivors of benefits for which they may be eligible. Core · importance 3.8
- Arrange for pallbearers or inform pallbearers or honorary groups of their duties. Core · importance 3.8
- Receive or usher people to their seats for services. Core · importance 3.7
- Participate in community activities for funeral home promotion or other purposes. Core · importance 3.7
Work activities
- Direct funeral or mortuary activities.
- Train service staff.
- Supervise service workers.
- Perform human resources activities.
- Clean facilities or work areas.
- Promote products, services, or programs.
- Transport biological or other medical materials.
- Discuss service options or needs with clients.
- Gather information in order to provide services to clients.
- Arrange facility schedules.
- Provide counsel, comfort, or encouragement to individuals or families.
- Handle caskets.
- Provide escort or transportation.
- Embalm corpses.
- Maintain financial or account records.
- Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
- Arrange items for use or display.
- Usher patrons to seats or exits.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Essential skills
| Active Listening | 4.1 | |
| Speaking | 3.8 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.3 | |
| Writing | 3.3 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.1 | |
| Active Learning | 3.0 | |
| Monitoring | 3.0 |
Transferable skills
| Social Perceptiveness | 4.1 | |
| Service Orientation | 3.9 | |
| Coordination | 3.8 | |
| Time Management | 3.4 | |
| Persuasion | 3.1 | |
| Negotiation | 3.1 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.1 | |
| Instructing | 3.0 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.0 | |
| Systems Analysis | 3.0 |
Abilities
| Oral Expression | 4.0 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 3.8 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.8 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.8 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.6 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.3 | |
| Near Vision | 3.3 | |
| Written Comprehension | 3.1 | |
| Written Expression | 3.1 | |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.1 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.1 | |
| Selective Attention | 3.1 |
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
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.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
- Typical entry-level education
- Associate's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
- Preparation level
- SVP (6.0 to < 7.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services , Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies . 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.
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 73.2% | |
| High School Diploma | 15.3% | |
| Bachelor's Degree | 11.2% | |
| Some College Courses | 0.3% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Dependability | 10.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 9.0 | |
| Integrity | 8.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 7.0 | |
| Cooperation | 6.0 | |
| Social Orientation | 5.0 | |
| Self-Control | 4.0 |
Interest areas
| Personal Service | 5.8 | |
| Management/Administration | 5.0 | |
| Social Service | 3.6 | |
| Public Speaking | 3.4 | |
| Sales | 3.2 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Conventional | 4.7 | |
| Enterprising | 4.7 | |
| Social | 4.4 | |
| Realistic | 3.5 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $31,470 |
| 25th percentile | $38,470 |
| Median (50th) | $49,800 |
| 75th percentile | $67,140 |
| 90th percentile | $85,940 |
| People employed | 25,700 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 25,360 | $49,670 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | — | $52,020 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 34.37× | 25,360 |
Related occupations
Part of the Healthcare & Human Services career cluster.
- Funeral Attendants · 39-4021.00 Compare →
- Funeral Home Managers · 11-9171.00 Compare →
- Embalmers · 39-4011.00 Compare →
- Crematory Operators · 39-4012.00 Compare →
- Home Health Aides · 31-1121.00 Compare →
- Coroners · 13-1041.06 Compare →
- Personal Care Aides · 31-1122.00 Compare →
- First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers · 39-1022.00 Compare →
- Nursing Assistants · 31-1131.00 Compare →
- Patient Representatives · 29-2099.08 Compare →
- Clergy · 21-2011.00 Compare →
- Residential Advisors · 39-9041.00 Compare →
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 Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers — 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.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Associate's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services · field of study
- Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 21st percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers show 32nd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 3,200 annual U.S. openings
- Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers rank in the 32nd 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 3,200 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 about average (+3.1%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $49,800, across about 25,700 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
- Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 30% 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
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers show 32nd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 3,200 annual U.S. openings • Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers rank in the 32nd 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 3,200 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 about average (+3.1%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $49,800, across about 25,700 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 30% 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 — "Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-4031-00 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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers." 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; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-4031-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-4031-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-39-4031-00,
title = {Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers},
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; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-4031-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.