Farming, Fishing, and Forestry · Holland code RC

Logging Equipment Operators

Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush. Includes operating stand-alone logging machines, such as log chippers.

Also called: Loader Operator, Logging Equipment Operator, Skidder Driver, Skidder Operator, Delimber Operator, Feller Buncher Operator, Harvester Operator, Log Processor Operator.

O*NET 45-4022.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $49,740; Middle half earn $43,970 to $61,050. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Less than a High School Diploma; 55% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Inspect equipment for safety prior to use, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks.
Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.
Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.
Drive and maneuver tractors and tree harvesters to shear the tops off of trees, cut and limb the trees, and cut the logs into desired lengths.
Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.
Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.
Fill out required job or shift report forms.
Calculate total board feet, cordage, or other wood measurement units, using conversion tables.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.0 / 5
Monitoring3.0 / 5
Critical Thinking2.9 / 5
Writing2.8 / 5
Speaking2.8 / 5
Reading Comprehension2.5 / 5

Knowledge areas

Mechanical4.2 / 5
Public Safety and Security3.5 / 5
Production and Processing3.4 / 5
Transportation2.7 / 5
Administration and Management2.3 / 5
Customer and Personal Service2.1 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic97
Investigative14
Artistic0
Social2
Enterprising2
Conventional57

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

forestry technician · DE Forstaufseher/Forstaufseherin · FR technicien forestier/technicienne forestière
forestry machinery technician · DE Forstmaschinentechniker/Forstmaschinentechnikerin · FR technicien d’engins forestiers/technicienne d’engins forestiers
chipper operator · DE Hackschnitzelerzeuger/Hackschnitzelerzeugerin · FR conducteur de déchiqueteuse/conductrice de déchiqueteuse
crosscut saw operator · DE Schrotsägenführer/Schrotsägenführerin · FR scieur bois/scieuse bois
debarker operator · DE Entrindungsmaschinenführer/Entrindungsmaschinenführerin · FR conducteur de tambour-écorceur/conductrice de tambour-écorceur
sawmill operator · DE Sägewerksfacharbeiter/Sägewerksfacharbeiterin · FR conducteur opérateur de scierie/conductrice opératrice de scierie

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Rail and rolling stock builders and repairers (5236)16,800 employed
Metal working production and maintenance fitters and technicians (5223)135,500 employed
Forestry and related workers (9112)6,800 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Plant and machine operators and assemblers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Plant and machine operators and assemblers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€39,630
Netherlands	€37,567
Austria	€37,304
Sweden	€36,005
Germany	€34,433
Ireland	€32,617
France	€28,550
Italy	€28,330
Spain	€24,409
Portugal	€11,309
Poland	€10,259

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -1.00. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (45-4022).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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