Subsector, 115
Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry
371,730 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $43,230 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 69 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 12%
- 3%
- 85%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 7% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 9%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 39 largest jobs hold 95% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | 196,080 | 4% | 16 million | $35K |
| Office Clerks, General | 5,140 | 54% | 5.8 million | $43K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 3,030 | 78% | 4.9 million | $50K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers | 12,790 | 16% | 4.2 million | $52K |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | 17,920 | 7% | 2.6 million | $35K |
| General and Operations Managers | 5,120 | 23% | 2.4 million | $83K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 2,020 | 53% | 2.2 million | $42K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 2,350 | 43% | 2.1 million | $46K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 6,900 | 14% | 2 million | $45K |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 9,250 | 9% | 1.7 million | $36K |
| Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks | 1,100 | 76% | 1.7 million | $48K |
| Animal Caretakers | 5,870 | 11% | 1.3 million | $36K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 109 smaller jobs (17,830 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 99% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse5.4 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse5.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress.Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse2.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record product, packaging, and order information on specified forms and records.Packers and Packagers, Hand2.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Perform both supervisory and management functions, such as accounting, marketing, and personnel work.First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers2.6 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record information about plants and plant growth.Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse1.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse1.6 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Office Clerks, General1.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record grade or identification numbers on tags or on shipping, receiving, or sales sheets.Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products1.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Inside this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works