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Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters and Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 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.”

Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$59,110
$59,600
Employment · BLS OEWS
5,680
17,410
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
6th pct
9th pct

At a glance

Dimension Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
Median pay $59,110 $59,600
Employment 5,680 17,410
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.9%) About average (+2.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 500 1,700
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 · 6th pct Low · 9th 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: Public Safety and Security, Problem Sensitivity, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Monitoring, Oral Expression, Finger Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Reaction Time, Critical Thinking, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Control Precision, Visual Color Discrimination, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Depth Perception, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed, Administration and Management, Transportation, Visualization, Far Vision.

Specific to Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters

  • Law and Government
  • Mathematics
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Time Management
  • Selective Attention
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Category Flexibility
  • Speech Clarity

Specific to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

  • Mechanical
  • Rate Control
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Design
  • Coordination
  • Equipment Selection
  • Troubleshooting

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 , Mobile location based services software .

Specific to Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters

Specific to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters or Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas — 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. "Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas." 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. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas,
  title  = {Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas},
  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. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-earth-drillers-except-oil-and-gas}
}

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