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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment 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 Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping 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.”

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$52,550
$51,650
Employment · BLS OEWS
34,210
45,680
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
30th pct
1st pct

At a glance

Dimension Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
Median pay $52,550 $51,650
Employment 34,210 45,680
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.4%) About average (+3.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,100 4,000
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 · 30th pct Low · 1st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 11th pct · 13% 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, Building and Construction, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Recognition, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Coordination, Equipment Maintenance, Troubleshooting, Repairing, Judgment and Decision Making.

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

  • Auditory Attention
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Learning
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Persuasion
  • Complex Problem Solving

Specific to Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

  • Static Strength
  • Trunk Strength
  • Deductive Reasoning
  • Information Ordering
  • Visualization
  • Selective Attention
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Speech Clarity

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 .

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

Specific to Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment 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 Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping 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. "Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping 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; 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-paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment 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-paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining-vs-paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operators,
  title  = {Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining vs Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping 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; 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-paving-surfacing-and-tamping-equipment-operators}
}

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