Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation vs Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation carries the higher exposed share at 19.9% against 7.6%, a gap of 12.3 points. The difference is driven by capability: a current system can simply produce more of the first job's work product than the second's. Release v2026.Q3.
| Occupation | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Capability | Friction | Median pay | Rank | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation | 19.9% | 8.8% | 71.3% | 0.29 | 0.38 | $46,340 | 594 | untouched |
| Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers | 7.6% | 4.1% | 88.3% | 0.12 | 0.30 | $39,150 | 836 | untouched |
What stands in the way, in each
Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.29 of 1 and friction at 0.38 of 1.
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.12 of 1 and friction at 0.30 of 1.
Capability asks whether a generally available system can produce the work product at all. Friction asks what stops it finishing the job: physical work, being present, being accountable, unseen context, or the cost of checking the output. The rubric is here.
Read each in full
Exposure is not displacement. A higher score does not rank two jobs by how safe they are, and nothing here models adoption, employment or pay.