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Construction Laborers vs Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Construction Laborers and Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 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.”

Construction Laborers Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$46,730
$58,710
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,057,660
469,270
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
5th pct
30th pct

At a glance

Dimension Construction Laborers Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
Median pay $46,730 $58,710
Employment 1,057,660 469,270
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.3%) About average (+3.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 129,400 41,900
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 5th pct Low · 30th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 2nd pct · 9% of tasks 11th pct · 13% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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: Manual Dexterity, Static Strength, Multilimb Coordination, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Speaking, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Control Precision, Near Vision, Public Safety and Security, Active Listening, Operation and Control, Information Ordering, Finger Dexterity, Far Vision, Mechanical, Operations Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Selective Attention, Rate Control, Depth Perception, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Inductive Reasoning, Visualization, Response Orientation, Reaction Time, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking.

Specific to Construction Laborers

  • Building and Construction
  • Trunk Strength
  • Coordination
  • Dynamic Strength
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Category Flexibility
  • Written Comprehension

Specific to Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

  • English Language
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Monitoring
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Troubleshooting
  • Time Management
  • Time Sharing
  • Visual Color Discrimination

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: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Operating system software .

Specific to Construction Laborers

Specific to Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Construction Laborers or Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators — 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. "Construction Laborers vs Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators." 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; 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/construction-laborers-vs-operating-engineers-and-other-construction-equipment-operators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Construction Laborers vs Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/construction-laborers-vs-operating-engineers-and-other-construction-equipment-operators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-construction-laborers-vs-operating-engineers-and-other-construction-equipment-operators,
  title  = {Construction Laborers vs Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; 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/construction-laborers-vs-operating-engineers-and-other-construction-equipment-operators}
}

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