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Highway Maintenance Workers 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 Highway Maintenance Workers 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.”

Highway Maintenance Workers Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$49,070
$52,550
Employment · BLS OEWS
151,750
34,210
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
3rd pct
30th pct

At a glance

Dimension Highway Maintenance Workers Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Median pay $49,070 $52,550
Employment 151,750 34,210
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.0%) Declining (-0.4%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 12,300 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 · 3rd pct Low · 30th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 2nd pct · 9% 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: Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Auditory Attention, Building and Construction, Monitoring, Coordination, Oral Expression, Finger Dexterity, Response Orientation, Reaction Time, Far Vision, Active Listening, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Rate Control.

Specific to Highway Maintenance Workers

  • Public Safety and Security
  • English Language
  • Static Strength
  • Transportation
  • Information Ordering
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Visualization
  • Selective Attention

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

  • Depth Perception
  • Spatial Orientation
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Mechanical
  • Speech Recognition
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Critical Thinking

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 , Presentation software , Word processing software .

Specific to Highway Maintenance Workers

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 Highway Maintenance Workers 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. "Highway Maintenance Workers 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; 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/highway-maintenance-workers-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Highway Maintenance Workers 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/highway-maintenance-workers-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-highway-maintenance-workers-vs-excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operators-surface-mining,
  title  = {Highway Maintenance Workers 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; 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/highway-maintenance-workers-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.