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Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels and Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$85,540
$63,940
Employment · BLS OEWS
35,390
10,160
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
42nd pct
22nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
Median pay $85,540 $63,940
Employment 35,390 10,160
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.5%) About average (+5.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 4,300 1,100
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 42nd pct Low · 22nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 55th pct · 29% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No —

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Transportation, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Public Safety and Security, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Far Vision, Near Vision, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Monitoring, Information Ordering, Perceptual Speed, Speech Recognition, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Flexibility of Closure, English Language, Geography, Reading Comprehension, Coordination, Management of Personnel Resources, Visualization, Selective Attention, Time Sharing.

Specific to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

  • Spatial Orientation
  • Operation and Control
  • Written Comprehension
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Control Precision
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Mechanical
  • Operations Monitoring

Specific to Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Administration and Management
  • Administrative
  • Time Management
  • Learning Strategies
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Mathematics

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Office suite software , Spreadsheet software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software .

Specific to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

Specific to Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels or Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

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. "Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors,
  title  = {Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors}
}

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