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Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs 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 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 Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$48,620
$62,970
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,531,700
455,940
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
21st pct
20th pct

At a glance

Dimension Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay $48,620 $62,970
Employment 1,531,700 455,940
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.8%) About average (+4.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 159,800 44,000
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. 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 Low · 21st pct Low · 20th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 4th pct · 11% of tasks 18th pct · 15% 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, Repairing, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Troubleshooting, Problem Sensitivity, Building and Construction, Oral Expression, Visualization, Control Precision, Mathematics, Critical Thinking, Oral Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Finger Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Inductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Flexibility of Closure, Selective Attention, Extent Flexibility, Speaking, Coordination.

Specific to Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

  • Equipment Maintenance
  • English Language
  • Active Learning
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Written Expression
  • Speech Recognition
  • Speech Clarity
  • Production and Processing

Specific to Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

  • Design
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Trunk Strength
  • Far Vision
  • Administration and Management
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Public Safety and Security

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 , Computer aided design CAD software , Word processing software , Spreadsheet software , Electronic mail software , Project management software , Data base user interface and query software , Facilities management software .

Specific to Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

Specific to Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General or 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 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-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs 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-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-maintenance-and-repair-workers-general-vs-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters,
  title  = {Maintenance and Repair Workers, General vs 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-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters}
}

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