Skip to content
Singulariki

Engineering and Technology

Knowledge · O*NET work requirement

Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

In the O*NET occupational database, Engineering and Technology is an area of knowledge that work requires. O*NET rates how important it is (1–5) and what level of it a job needs (0–7) for every U.S. occupation. It is rated as important (3 or higher) in 216 of 894 occupations.

Breadth here means how widely O*NET rates this area of knowledge as important across occupations — not that it is rare, high-paying, or currently in employer demand.

Occupations that rely most on Engineering and Technology

Ranked by O*NET importance to the occupation (1–5). Bars are sized against the 1–5 scale; the level column is what depth of the area of knowledge the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary 5.0 6.5
Environmental Engineers 5.0 6.2
Transportation Engineers 4.9 6.5
Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers 4.9 6.4
Agricultural Engineers 4.8 6.5
Photonics Engineers 4.8 6.5
Wind Energy Engineers 4.8 6.3
Robotics Engineers 4.8 6.1
Chemical Engineers 4.8 6.4
Aerospace Engineers 4.8 6.1
Materials Scientists 4.8 6.0
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 4.8 6.2
Electrical Engineers 4.7 6.0
Mechanical Drafters 4.7 5.6
Automotive Engineers 4.7 6.4
Commercial and Industrial Designers 4.7 5.7
Water/Wastewater Engineers 4.7 6.3
Civil Engineers 4.7 6.4
Computer Hardware Engineers 4.7 6.4
Mechatronics Engineers 4.7 5.6
Fuel Cell Engineers 4.6 6.0
Nanosystems Engineers 4.6 5.8
Water Resource Specialists 4.6 6.2
Microsystems Engineers 4.6 6.2
Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers 4.6 6.1
Nuclear Engineers 4.6 6.0
Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialists 4.6 5.4
Physicists 4.5 6.0
Automotive Engineering Technicians 4.5 5.0
Energy Engineers, Except Wind and Solar 4.5 5.5
Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians 4.5 5.1
Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers 4.5 5.6
Mechanical Engineers 4.5 5.7
Manufacturing Engineers 4.4 5.3
Industrial Engineers 4.4 5.0
Petroleum Engineers 4.4 5.3
Solar Photovoltaic Installers 4.4 4.7
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians 4.4 5.1
Electrical and Electronics Installers and Repairers, Transportation Equipment 4.4 4.7
Robotics Technicians 4.4 5.0

Showing the top 40 of 216 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Engineering and Technology

This area of knowledge is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles for which O*NET rates it important and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles (importance-weighted). 53.2% of the 216 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (115 roles).

Across those roles, 42.1% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 32.9% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.66 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 29.2% AI does it; you give the instruction
task iteration 23.0% you and AI go back and forth
learning 16.8% you ask AI to explain or teach
feedback loop 3.7% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 2.2% you do it; AI checks your work

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this area of knowledge is most important and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Importance Works with AI Autonomy
Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary 5.0 67.0% 4.0/5
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary 3.3 65.9% 4.0/5
Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary 3.3 66.3% 4.0/5
Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary 3.4 66.0% 4.0/5
Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary 3.8 68.5% 4.0/5
Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary 3.3 65.7% 3.8/5
Computer Hardware Engineers 4.7 52.2% 4.0/5
Vocational Education Teachers, Postsecondary 3.5 64.4% 4.0/5
Multimedia Artists and Animators 3.2 52.1% 4.0/5
Operations Research Analysts 4.0 55.2% 4.0/5
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.1 33.4% 4.0/5
Chief Executives 3.0 65.7% 3.0/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Shares are of observed conversations, weighted by how important this area of knowledge is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

Industries that concentrate this

Where Engineering and Technology matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Engineering and Technology (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.

Nationally, about 9.1% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Engineering and Technology (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Manufacturing 2,796,940 21.9%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 2,563,490 23.8%
Construction 2,252,090 27.7%
Retail Trade 648,380 4.2%
Information 629,890 21.7%
Wholesale Trade 625,140 10.4%
Educational Services 604,340 4.4%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 544,620 6.0%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 521,420 11.8%
Management of Companies and Enterprises 438,760 15.6%
Transportation and Warehousing 331,400 4.5%
Finance and Insurance 324,370 5.2%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 7.31× 66.5%
Engineering Services National industry 6.87× 62.5%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 6.65× 60.5%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 5.87× 53.4%
Nuclear Electric Power Generation National industry 5.33× 48.5%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 4.46× 40.6%
Utilities Sector 4.38× 39.9%
Solar Electric Power Generation National industry 4.33× 39.4%
Testing Laboratories and Services National industry 3.66× 33.3%
Construction Sector 3.04× 27.7%
Machine Shops National industry 27.3%
Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers National industry 2.9× 26.4%

Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.

Capabilities required by many of the same occupations — a measure of which skills, knowledge and abilities tend to travel together, not a judgment of similarity.

Capability Type Shared occupations
Design Knowledge 134
Physics Knowledge 95
Mechanical Knowledge 139
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 122
Visualization Ability 161
Mathematics Knowledge 186
Computers and Electronics Knowledge 176
Mathematics Basic skill 112
Mathematical Reasoning Ability 115
Systems Analysis Cross-functional skill 141
Flexibility of Closure Ability 167
Perceptual Speed Ability 146

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. "Engineering and Technology." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/knowledge/engineering-and-technology

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Engineering and Technology. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/knowledge/engineering-and-technology

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-engineering-and-technology,
  title  = {Engineering and Technology},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/knowledge/engineering-and-technology}
}

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