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Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Air Traffic Controllers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters and Air Traffic Controllers 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.”

Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters Air Traffic Controllers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$74,080
$144,580
Employment · BLS OEWS
42,710
22,400
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
52nd pct
59th pct

At a glance

Dimension Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters Air Traffic Controllers
Median pay $74,080 $144,580
Employment 42,710 22,400
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.1%) About average (+1.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,100 2,200
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 · 52nd pct Moderate · 59th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 25th pct · 18% of tasks 59th pct · 31% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No Yes

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: Oral Expression, Public Safety and Security, Transportation, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Speaking, Monitoring, Coordination, Critical Thinking, Near Vision, Far Vision, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Information Ordering, English Language, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Complex Problem Solving, Written Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Written Expression, Category Flexibility, Perceptual Speed, Visualization, Selective Attention, Auditory Attention, Education and Training, Active Learning.

Specific to Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters

  • Operations Monitoring
  • Operation and Control
  • Reaction Time
  • Control Precision
  • Law and Government
  • Writing
  • Persuasion
  • Quality Control Analysis

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

  • Speed of Closure
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Time Sharing
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Geography
  • Telecommunications
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Fluency of Ideas

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 , Spreadsheet software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Expert system software .

Specific to Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters or Air Traffic Controllers — 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. "Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Air Traffic Controllers." 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/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-air-traffic-controllers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Air Traffic Controllers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-air-traffic-controllers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-air-traffic-controllers,
  title  = {Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Air Traffic Controllers},
  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/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-air-traffic-controllers}
}

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