As of June 2026, Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining has an AI-exposure score of 41/100 (Moderate exposure) on the AI-Safe Careers index, blending O*NET tasks, the Anthropic Economic Index, the Penn/OpenAI study, and BLS data. This is an estimate of task exposure, not a prediction of job loss.
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
More exposed than 12% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$57,430. About 3,100 projected openings a year (BLS 2024–34 — growth plus replacement).
Pay & demand figures are US medians (BLS, in USD) — your local figures will differ. Your exposure score applies broadly.
How you compare to similar Construction roles
Your tasks, by AI exposure
No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as augmentable (69%).
- Direct workers engaged in placing blocks or outriggers to prevent capsizing of machines when lifting heavy loads.
- Measure and verify levels of rock or gravel, bases, or other excavated material.
- Direct ground workers engaged in activities such as moving stakes or markers, or changing positions of towers.
- Receive written or oral instructions regarding material movement or excavation.
- Become familiar with digging plans, machine capabilities and limitations, and efficient and safe digging procedures in a given application.
- Lubricate, adjust, or repair machinery and replace parts, such as gears, bearings, or bucket teeth.
- Observe hand signals, grade stakes, or other markings when operating machines so that work can be performed to specifications.
- Handle slides, mud, or pit cleanings or maintenance.
- Perform manual labor to prepare or finish sites, such as shoveling materials by hand.
- Move materials over short distances, such as around a construction site, factory, or warehouse.
- Create or maintain inclines or ramps.
- Set up or inspect equipment prior to operation.
- Move levers, depress foot pedals, and turn dials to operate power machinery, such as power shovels, stripping shovels, scraper loaders, or backhoes.
- Operate machinery to perform activities such as backfilling excavations, vibrating or breaking rock or concrete, or making winter roads.
- Adjust dig face angles for varying overburden depths and set lengths.
- Drive machines to work sites.
Safer adjacent roles
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Workers with AI skills earn a roughly 62% wage premium — adapting pays. — PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer, 2026
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