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Control Precision

Ability · O*NET work requirement

The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.

In the O*NET occupational database, Control Precision is an ability that work requires. O*NET rates how important it is (1–5) and what level of it a job needs (0–7) for every U.S. occupation. It is rated as important (3 or higher) in 319 of 894 occupations.

Breadth here means how widely O*NET rates this ability as important across occupations — not that it is rare, high-paying, or currently in employer demand.

Occupations that rely most on Control Precision

Ranked by O*NET importance to the occupation (1–5). Bars are sized against the 1–5 scale; the level column is what depth of the ability the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.6 4.5
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 4.3 3.6
Commercial Pilots 4.1 4.5
Crane and Tower Operators 4.1 4.1
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 4.1 4.0
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 4.1 4.1
Pile Driver Operators 4.1 4.0
Roof Bolters, Mining 4.1 4.0
Subway and Streetcar Operators 4.1 4.0
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.0 4.1
Boilermakers 4.0 4.0
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 4.0 4.0
Dentists, General 4.0 5.6
Dredge Operators 4.0 4.0
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 4.0 4.0
Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians 4.0 4.1
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.0 4.0
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 4.0
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 4.0 4.0
Locomotive Engineers 4.0 4.0
Logging Equipment Operators 4.0 4.0
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 4.0 4.0
Motorboat Operators 4.0 4.0
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 4.0 5.4
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas 4.0 3.8
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 4.0 3.9
Tree Trimmers and Pruners 4.0 4.0
Watch and Clock Repairers 4.0 4.0
Agricultural Equipment Operators 3.9 3.9
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity 3.9 3.4
Commercial Divers 3.9 3.6
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.9 3.6
Dental Laboratory Technicians 3.9 3.9
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 3.9 4.0
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse 3.9 3.5
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 3.9 3.9
Highway Maintenance Workers 3.9 3.8
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.9 3.9
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders 3.9 4.0
Millwrights 3.9 4.0

Showing the top 40 of 319 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Control Precision

This ability is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles for which O*NET rates it important and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles (importance-weighted). 37.0% of the 319 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (118 roles).

Across those roles, 31.2% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 33.9% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.45 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 28.2% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 18.5% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 11.9% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 5.7% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 0.8% you do it; AI checks your work

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this ability is most important and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Importance Works with AI Autonomy
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.1 33.4% 4.0/5
Robotics Engineers 3.0 42.0% 4.0/5
Chemical Technicians 3.1 53.9% 4.0/5
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers 3.5 58.0% 4.0/5
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians 3.1 51.6% 4.0/5
Craft Artists 3.1 42.4% 4.0/5
Patternmakers, Wood 3.9 30.1% 2.5/5
Cooks, Restaurant 3.0 36.7% 4.0/5
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.6 27.2% 4.0/5
Dentists, General 4.0 77.1% 3.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.9 22.8% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.1 27.2% 4.0/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Shares are of observed conversations, weighted by how important this ability is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

Industries that concentrate this

Where Control Precision matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Control Precision (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.

Nationally, about 21.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Control Precision (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Manufacturing 5,692,900 44.6%
Construction 5,481,170 67.5%
Transportation and Warehousing 4,202,530 56.9%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 2,488,250 27.6%
Health Care and Social Assistance 2,064,010 8.9%
Retail Trade 2,024,500 13.0%
Accommodation and Food Services 2,017,980 14.2%
Wholesale Trade 1,751,880 29.0%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 1,366,160 30.9%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 669,200 28.3%
Educational Services 515,890 3.8%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 446,590 4.1%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Masonry Contractors National industry 3.96× 83.9%
Landscaping Services National industry 3.94× 83.6%
Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors National industry 3.87× 82.1%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Sector 3.59× 76.1%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 3.54× 75.1%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 3.51× 74.5%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 3.41× 72.2%
Drywall and Insulation Contractors National industry 3.37× 71.4%
Roofing Contractors National industry 3.22× 68.2%
Construction Sector 3.18× 67.5%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 3.17× 67.3%
Exterminating and Pest Control Services National industry 3.04× 64.5%

Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.

Capabilities required by many of the same occupations — a measure of which skills, knowledge and abilities tend to travel together, not a judgment of similarity.

Capability Type Shared occupations
Manual Dexterity Ability 297
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 309
Finger Dexterity Ability 279
Operations Monitoring Cross-functional skill 241
Multilimb Coordination Ability 217
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 196
Mechanical Knowledge 208
Visualization Ability 232
Trunk Strength Ability 171
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 166
Reaction Time Ability 139
Perceptual Speed Ability 203

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Control Precision." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/abilities/control-precision

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Control Precision. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/control-precision

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-control-precision,
  title  = {Control Precision},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/abilities/control-precision}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.