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).
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 | 3× | 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.
Related knowledge, skills & abilities
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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Census NAICS 2022 U.S. Census Bureau
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
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
Singulariki. (2026). Engineering and Technology. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/knowledge/engineering-and-technology
@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.