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Mechanical

Knowledge · O*NET work requirement

Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

In the O*NET occupational database, Mechanical 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 276 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 Mechanical

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
Bicycle Repairers 5.0 5.7
Hydroelectric Plant Technicians 4.9 5.8
Millwrights 4.8 6.5
Motorcycle Mechanics 4.8 6.4
Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 4.8 6.3
Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.8 6.3
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 4.8 6.2
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 4.7 6.0
Solar Thermal Installers and Technicians 4.7 5.6
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.7 6.5
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.7 6.2
Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers 4.7 5.9
Aviation Inspectors 4.6 6.4
Maintenance Workers, Machinery 4.5 5.8
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.5 5.9
Ship Engineers 4.5 5.7
Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians 4.5 6.2
Mechanical Drafters 4.5 5.1
Rail Car Repairers 4.5 5.1
Tool and Die Makers 4.5 5.2
Geothermal Technicians 4.4 5.4
Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians 4.4 5.3
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants 4.4 4.5
Geothermal Production Managers 4.4 5.9
Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics 4.3 5.6
Model Makers, Metal and Plastic 4.3 4.6
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers 4.3 5.2
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters 4.3 4.9
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.3 5.6
Biomass Power Plant Managers 4.3 5.5
Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay 4.3 5.5
Solar Photovoltaic Installers 4.3 5.3
Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators 4.3 4.5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.3 4.9
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 4.2 5.0
Locksmiths and Safe Repairers 4.2 4.9
Mechanical Engineers 4.2 5.2
Automotive Engineering Technicians 4.2 5.2
Avionics Technicians 4.2 5.7
Logging Equipment Operators 4.2 4.7

Showing the top 40 of 276 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Mechanical

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). 40.6% of the 276 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (112 roles).

Across those roles, 31.8% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 31.5% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.50 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 26.4% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 17.0% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 13.4% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 5.2% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 1.4% 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 3.5 67.0% 4.0/5
Vocational Education Teachers, Postsecondary 3.7 64.4% 4.0/5
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.6 33.4% 4.0/5
Robotics Engineers 4.2 42.0% 4.0/5
Photonics Engineers 3.1 63.5% 4.0/5
Materials Scientists 3.4 49.0% 3.0/5
Architectural and Engineering Managers 3.7 66.3% 4.0/5
Civil Engineering Technicians 3.5 53.0% 4.0/5
Energy Engineers 3.8 52.5% 4.0/5
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval 3.4 53.8% 4.0/5
Electrical Engineers 3.2 45.2% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.3 22.8% 4.0/5

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 Mechanical matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Mechanical (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 14.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Mechanical (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Manufacturing 5,705,860 44.7%
Construction 5,388,980 66.4%
Retail Trade 1,172,520 7.5%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 1,163,950 10.8%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 1,162,040 12.9%
Transportation and Warehousing 916,980 12.4%
Wholesale Trade 879,610 14.6%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 875,280 19.8%
Educational Services 675,040 4.9%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 508,870 21.5%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 364,710 63.6%
Utilities 334,200 57.7%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 5.49× 77.9%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 5.44× 77.3%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 5.16× 73.3%
Roofing Contractors National industry 5.03× 71.4%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 5.01× 71.2%
Masonry Contractors National industry 4.98× 70.7%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 4.93× 70.0%
Drywall and Insulation Contractors National industry 4.92× 69.8%
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 4.88× 69.3%
Construction Sector 4.68× 66.4%
Machine Shops National industry 4.63× 65.7%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 4.48× 63.6%

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
Operations Monitoring Cross-functional skill 210
Control Precision Ability 208
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 174
Visualization Ability 221
Manual Dexterity Ability 210
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 155
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 216
Finger Dexterity Ability 198
Multilimb Coordination Ability 162
Troubleshooting Cross-functional skill 124
Production and Processing Knowledge 153
Engineering and Technology Knowledge 139

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. "Mechanical." 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/mechanical

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Mechanical. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/knowledge/mechanical

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-mechanical,
  title  = {Mechanical},
  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/mechanical}
}

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