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Locomotive Engineers vs Ship Engineers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Locomotive Engineers and Ship Engineers 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.”

Locomotive Engineers Ship Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$77,400
$101,320
Employment · BLS OEWS
31,990
8,580
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
34th pct
4th pct

At a glance

Dimension Locomotive Engineers Ship Engineers
Median pay $77,400 $101,320
Employment 31,990 8,580
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.7%) About average (+1.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 2,200 1,100
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 Moderate · 34th pct Low · 4th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 33rd pct · 20% of tasks 42nd pct · 23% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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: Transportation, Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Selective Attention, Control Precision, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Public Safety and Security, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Inductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making, Manual Dexterity, Speech Recognition, English Language, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving.

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Far Vision
  • Response Orientation
  • Reaction Time
  • Depth Perception
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Rate Control
  • Auditory Attention

Specific to Ship Engineers

  • Mechanical
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Troubleshooting
  • Repairing
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Systems Analysis
  • Mathematics
  • Computers and Electronics

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 , Word processing software .

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Specific to Ship Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Locomotive Engineers or Ship Engineers — 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. "Locomotive Engineers vs Ship Engineers." 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/locomotive-engineers-vs-ship-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Locomotive Engineers vs Ship Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/locomotive-engineers-vs-ship-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-locomotive-engineers-vs-ship-engineers,
  title  = {Locomotive Engineers vs Ship Engineers},
  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/locomotive-engineers-vs-ship-engineers}
}

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