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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Crane and Tower Operators

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining and Crane and Tower 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.”

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Crane and Tower Operators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$52,550
$66,370
Employment · BLS OEWS
34,210
42,000
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
30th pct
19th pct

At a glance

Dimension Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Crane and Tower Operators
Median pay $52,550 $66,370
Employment 34,210 42,000
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.4%) About average (+3.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,100 3,800
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 30th pct Low · 19th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 25th 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: Operation and Control, Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Depth Perception, Manual Dexterity, Reaction Time, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Response Orientation, Rate Control, Far Vision, Operations Monitoring, Spatial Orientation, Near Vision, Finger Dexterity, Mechanical, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Recognition, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management.

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

  • Auditory Attention
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Building and Construction
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Coordination
  • Persuasion
  • Equipment Selection

Specific to Crane and Tower Operators

  • Selective Attention
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Visualization
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Speech Clarity
  • Mathematics
  • Deductive Reasoning
  • Information Ordering

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 , Industrial control software .

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

Specific to Crane and Tower Operators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining or Crane and Tower 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. "Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Crane and Tower 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; 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/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining-vs-crane-and-tower-operators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Crane and Tower Operators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining-vs-crane-and-tower-operators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining-vs-crane-and-tower-operators,
  title  = {Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Crane and Tower Operators},
  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/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining-vs-crane-and-tower-operators}
}

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