Career Explorer Farming, fishing, forestry
Human edge, steady
Log graders and scalers
Grade logs or estimate the marketable content or value of logs or pulpwood in sorting yards, millpond, log deck, or similar locations. Inspect logs for defects or measure logs to determine volume.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 58% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by -2.2% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $46,330
- Job growth to 2035
- -2.2%
- Openings a year
- 600
- People doing it (2025)
- 4,400
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Evaluate production inputs or outputs
- Mark materials or objects for identification
- Maintain operational records
What the work looks like
- Evaluate log characteristics and determine grades, using established criteria.
- Record data about individual trees or load volumes into tally books or hand-held collection terminals.
- Measure felled logs or loads of pulpwood to calculate volume, weight, dimensions, and marketable value, using measuring devices and conversion tables.
- Paint identification marks of specified colors on logs to identify grades or species, using spray cans, or call out grades to log markers.
- Jab logs with metal ends of scale sticks, and inspect logs to ascertain characteristics or defects such as water damage, splits, knots, broken ends, rotten areas, twists, and curves.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Agricultural workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 83, +3.8%
- Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tendersHuman edge, growing, Index 90, +5.9%
- Wellhead pumpersHuman edge, steady, Index 65, -2.0%
- Forest and conservation workersHuman edge, steady, Index 67, -1.5%
Also known as: Log Buyer, Log Grader, Log Scaler, Scaler, Log Check Scaler, Lumber Grader, Timber Buyer.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.