As of June 2026, Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators has an AI-exposure score of 42/100 (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.
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
More exposed than 14% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$53,340. About 4,000 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 (50%).
- Control traffic.
- Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.
- Coordinate truck dumping.
- Install dies, cutters, and extensions to screeds onto machines, using hand tools.
- Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
- Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.
- Drive machines onto truck trailers, and drive trucks to transport machines and material to and from job sites.
- Light burners or start heating units of machines, and regulate screed temperatures and asphalt flow rates.
- Operate oil distributors, loaders, chip spreaders, dump trucks, and snow plows.
- Drive and operate curbing machines to extrude concrete or asphalt curbing.
- Cut or break up pavement and drive guardrail posts, using machines equipped with interchangeable hammers.
- Shovel blacktop.
- Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.
- Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.
- Set up forms and lay out guidelines for curbs, according to written specifications, using string, spray paint, and concrete or water mixes.
- Operate machines that clean or cut expansion joints in concrete or asphalt and that rout out cracks in pavement.
- Set up and tear down equipment.
- Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.
- Place strips of material, such as cork, asphalt, or steel into joints, or place rolls of expansion-joint material on machines that automatically insert material.
- Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.
Safer adjacent roles
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