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Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Rotary Drill Operators, 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 Rotary Drill Operators, 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 Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$59,110
$65,010
Employment · BLS OEWS
5,680
13,090
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
6th pct
13th pct

At a glance

Dimension Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
Median pay $59,110 $65,010
Employment 5,680 13,090
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.9%) About average (+0.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 500 1,200
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 · 13th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 30th pct · 19% 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: Problem Sensitivity, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Monitoring, Oral Expression, Finger Dexterity, Mathematics, Multilimb Coordination, Reaction Time, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Control Precision, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Selective Attention, Category Flexibility, Perceptual Speed, Speech Clarity, Administration and Management, Speech Recognition, Reading Comprehension.

Specific to Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters

  • Public Safety and Security
  • Law and Government
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Time Management
  • Depth Perception
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Customer and Personal Service

Specific to Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas

  • Mechanical
  • Instructing
  • Rate Control
  • Coordination
  • Written Expression
  • Education and Training
  • Written Comprehension
  • Auditory Attention

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 , Analytical or scientific software .

Specific to Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters

Specific to Rotary Drill Operators, 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 Rotary Drill Operators, 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 Rotary Drill Operators, 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; 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/explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-rotary-drill-operators-oil-and-gas

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Rotary Drill Operators, 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-rotary-drill-operators-oil-and-gas

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-rotary-drill-operators-oil-and-gas,
  title  = {Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters vs Rotary Drill Operators, 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; 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/explosives-workers-ordnance-handling-experts-and-blasters-vs-rotary-drill-operators-oil-and-gas}
}

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