Skip to content
Singulariki

Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

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 Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 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 Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$59,600
$52,550
Employment · BLS OEWS
17,410
34,210
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
9th pct
30th pct

At a glance

Dimension Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Median pay $59,600 $52,550
Employment 17,410 34,210
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+2.9%) Declining (-0.4%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,700 3,100
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 · 30th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — —

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, Multilimb Coordination, Reaction Time, Manual Dexterity, Depth Perception, Mechanical, Rate Control, Near Vision, Critical Thinking, Equipment Maintenance, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Far Vision, Hearing Sensitivity, Monitoring, Finger Dexterity, Active Listening, Speaking, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Equipment Selection, Troubleshooting, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression.

Specific to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

  • Perceptual Speed
  • Administration and Management
  • Transportation
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Deductive Reasoning
  • Information Ordering
  • Visualization
  • Inductive Reasoning

Specific to Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

  • Response Orientation
  • Spatial Orientation
  • Auditory Attention
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Building and Construction
  • Speech Recognition
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Learning

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 Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas or Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining — 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 Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining." 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. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining,
  title  = {Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas vs Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining},
  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. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining}
}

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