As of June 2026, Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 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.
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
More exposed than 12% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$59,850. About 41,900 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 durable (70%).
- Keep records of material or equipment usage or problems encountered.
- Check fuel supplies at sites to ensure adequate availability.
- Monitor operations to ensure that health and safety standards are met.
- Connect hydraulic hoses, belts, mechanical linkages, or power takeoff shafts to tractors.
- Adjust handwheels and depress pedals to control attachments, such as blades, buckets, scrapers, or swing booms.
- Select and fasten bulldozer blades or other attachments to tractors, using hitches.
- Take actions to avoid potential hazards or obstructions, such as utility lines, other equipment, other workers, or falling objects.
- Align machines, cutterheads, or depth gauge makers with reference stakes and guidelines or ground or position equipment, following hand signals of other workers.
- Learn and follow safety regulations.
- Operate tractors or bulldozers to perform such tasks as clearing land, mixing sludge, trimming backfills, or building roadways or parking lots.
- Operate equipment to demolish or remove debris or to remove snow from streets, roads, or parking lots.
- Operate loaders to pull out stumps, rip asphalt or concrete, rough-grade properties, bury refuse, or perform general cleanup.
- Drive and maneuver equipment equipped with blades in successive passes over working areas to remove topsoil, vegetation, or rocks or to distribute and level earth or terrain.
- Start engines, move throttles, switches, or levers, or depress pedals to operate machines, such as bulldozers, trench excavators, road graders, or backhoes.
- Repair and maintain equipment, making emergency adjustments or assisting with major repairs as necessary.
- Locate underground services, such as pipes or wires, prior to beginning work.
- Signal operators to guide movement of tractor-drawn machines.
- Coordinate machine actions with other activities, positioning or moving loads in response to hand or audio signals from crew members.
- Talk to clients and study instructions, plans, or diagrams to establish work requirements.
- Load and move dirt, rocks, equipment, or other materials, using trucks, crawler tractors, power cranes, shovels, graders, or related equipment.
Safer adjacent roles
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Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — median pay by US state (BLS OEWS, USD)
Median annual wage, in USD. US national: US$59,850. More states are being added.