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Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters vs Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

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

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

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

At a glance

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

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

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

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

Specific to Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

Specific to Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

Full profiles

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

APA

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

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

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