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Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Maintenance and Repair Workers, General and Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters 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.”

Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$48,620
$39,270
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,531,700
43,640
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
21st pct
14th pct

At a glance

Dimension Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay $48,620 $39,270
Employment 1,531,700 43,640
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.8%) About average (+4.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 159,800 4,900
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 21st pct Low · 14th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 4th pct · 11% of tasks 2nd pct · 9% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (40.7%) —
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: Mechanical, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Building and Construction, Oral Expression, Visualization, Control Precision, Mathematics, Critical Thinking, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Finger Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Active Learning, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Inductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Selective Attention, Extent Flexibility, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Coordination.

Specific to Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Repairing
  • Troubleshooting
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Operation and Control
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Written Expression
  • Flexibility of Closure

Specific to Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Trunk Strength
  • Administration and Management
  • Static Strength
  • Design
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Education and Training

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: Office suite software , Word processing software , Spreadsheet software .

Specific to Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

Specific to Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General or Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters — 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. "Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters." 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/maintenance-and-repair-workers-general-vs-helpers-pipelayers-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/maintenance-and-repair-workers-general-vs-helpers-pipelayers-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-maintenance-and-repair-workers-general-vs-helpers-pipelayers-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters,
  title  = {Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters},
  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/maintenance-and-repair-workers-general-vs-helpers-pipelayers-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters}
}

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