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Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas and Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 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.”

Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$59,600
$46,630
Employment · BLS OEWS
17,410
5,310
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
9th pct
29th pct

At a glance

Dimension Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Median pay $59,600 $46,630
Employment 17,410 5,310
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+2.9%) Declining (-19.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,700 400
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 · 9th pct Low · 29th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 26th pct · 18% 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: Operations Monitoring, Control Precision, Operation and Control, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Reaction Time, Manual Dexterity, Mechanical, Rate Control, Near Vision, Perceptual Speed, Administration and Management, Critical Thinking, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Visualization, Far Vision, Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning, Finger Dexterity, Design, Active Listening, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Quality Control Analysis, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Written Expression.

Specific to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Depth Perception
  • Transportation
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Coordination

Specific to Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Mathematics
  • Production and Processing
  • English Language
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Education and Training
  • Selective Attention
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Judgment and Decision Making

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 , Word processing software .

Specific to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

Specific to Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas or Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic — 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. "Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic." 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/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-drilling-and-boring-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-drilling-and-boring-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-drilling-and-boring-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic,
  title  = {Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic},
  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/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-drilling-and-boring-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic}
}

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