Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Continuous Mining Machine Operators
Occupation · SOC 47-5041.00
Operate self-propelled mining machines that rip coal, metal and nonmetal ores, rock, stone, or sand from the mine face and load it onto conveyors, shuttle cars, or trucks in a continuous operation.
Also called: Continuous Miner Operator (CMO) · Continuous Mining Machine Operator · Continuous Mining Operator (CMO) · Miner Operator · Bore Miner Operator · Continuous Miner · Heavy Equipment Operator · Loader Operator · Mine Technician · Mine Utility Operator · Bulldozer Operator · Concrete Crusher Loader Operator
Job family: Construction and Extraction Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-47-5041-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+0.6% by 2034)
- 1,600 openings/yr
- Low AI exposure
- Median pay $63,380/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
4th-percentile task overlap — yet about 1,600 openings a year (+0.6% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Low | 12th | -1.2 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Low | 3rd | 0.0 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Low | 8th | 0.0 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.0), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.0). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.5 · 48th percentile among occupations · Moderate
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +0.6% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 1,600 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 14,900 → 15,000 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Continuous Mining Machine Operators sits at the 23rd percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
17% mean task exposure (2025)
23rd percentile of 427 placed occupations
−7 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Miners and Quarriers · 8111 | 17% | Not exposed |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 15 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Hang ventilation tubing and ventilation curtains to ensure that the mining face area is kept properly ventilated. Core · importance 4.8
- Conduct methane gas checks to ensure breathing quality of air. Core · importance 4.7
- Check the stability of roof and rib support systems before mining face areas. Core · importance 4.7
- Operate mining machines to gather coal and convey it to floors or shuttle cars. Core · importance 4.6
- Drive machines into position at working faces. Core · importance 4.5
- Move controls to start and regulate movement of conveyors and to start and position drill cutters or torches. Core · importance 4.5
- Reposition machines to make additional holes or cuts. Core · importance 4.5
- Determine locations, boundaries, and depths of holes or channels to be cut. Core · importance 4.4
- Install casings to prevent cave-ins. Supplemental · importance 4.4
- Observe and listen to equipment operation to detect binding or stoppage of tools or other equipment malfunctions. Core · importance 4.3
- Scrape or wash conveyors, using belt scrapers or belt washers, to minimize dust production. Supplemental · importance 4.2
- Move levers to raise and lower hydraulic safety bars supporting roofs above machines until other workers complete framing. Supplemental · importance 4.2
- Repair, oil, and adjust machines, and change cutting teeth, using wrenches. Core · importance 4.2
- Apply new technologies developed to minimize the environmental impact of coal mining. Supplemental · importance 3.8
- Guide and assist crews laying track and resetting supports and blocking. Supplemental · importance 3.6
Work activities
- Operate mining equipment.
- Determine appropriate locations for operations or installations.
- Position construction or extraction equipment.
- Monitor extraction operations.
- Maintain extraction or excavation equipment.
- Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
- Install safety or support equipment.
- Assist skilled construction or extraction personnel.
- Direct construction or extraction personnel.
- Apply new technologies to improve work processes.
- Clean equipment or facilities.
- Position safety or support equipment.
- Test air quality at work sites.
- Inspect completed work to ensure proper installation.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Abilities
| Control Precision | 4.0 | |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 3.9 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.8 | |
| Multilimb Coordination | 3.8 | |
| Reaction Time | 3.8 | |
| Rate Control | 3.6 | |
| Near Vision | 3.6 | |
| Selective Attention | 3.5 | |
| Depth Perception | 3.5 | |
| Hearing Sensitivity | 3.5 | |
| Manual Dexterity | 3.4 | |
| Far Vision | 3.4 | |
| Oral Expression | 3.1 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.1 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 3.1 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.1 | |
| Perceptual Speed | 3.1 | |
| Response Orientation | 3.1 | |
| Trunk Strength | 3.1 | |
| Extent Flexibility | 3.1 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.0 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.0 | |
| Visualization | 3.0 | |
| Time Sharing | 3.0 |
Knowledge
| Mechanical | 3.9 | |
| Production and Processing | 3.7 | |
| Law and Government | 3.4 | |
| Education and Training | 3.3 |
Transferable skills
| Operations Monitoring | 3.9 | |
| Operation and Control | 3.9 | |
| Equipment Maintenance | 3.4 | |
| Troubleshooting | 3.3 | |
| Repairing | 3.1 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.1 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.0 | |
| Time Management | 3.0 |
Essential skills
| Critical Thinking | 3.3 | |
| Active Listening | 3.0 | |
| Speaking | 3.0 | |
| Monitoring | 3.0 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Tools & technology
| Example | Category | |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Excel | Spreadsheet software | Hot technology |
| Microsoft Office software | Office suite software | Hot technology |
| Microsoft PowerPoint | Presentation software | Hot technology |
| Microsoft Word | Word processing software | Hot technology |
| Fleet monitoring system software | Mobile location based services software | |
| Hitachi ZXLink | Mobile location based services software | |
| Leica Geosystems FMS | Mobile location based services software | |
| Minitab | Analytical or scientific software |
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Education
- Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
- Typical entry-level education
- No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
- Preparation level
- SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Transportation and Materials Moving . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| High School Diploma | 81.3% | |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 9.6% | |
| Some College Courses | 5.1% | |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 4.0% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Realistic | 7.0 | |
| Conventional | 4.1 | |
| Investigative | 2.5 | |
| Enterprising | 1.3 |
Interest areas
| Physical/Manual Labor | 6.2 | |
| Transportation/Machine Operation | 5.8 | |
| Mechanics/Electronics | 5.0 | |
| Engineering | 2.6 | |
| Construction/Woodwork | 1.3 |
Work styles
| Dependability | 4.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 3.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 2.5 | |
| Stress Tolerance | 2.1 | |
| Perseverance | 1.9 | |
| Self-Control | 1.6 | |
| Integrity | 1.5 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $41,450 |
| 25th percentile | $50,850 |
| Median (50th) | $63,380 |
| 75th percentile | $76,850 |
| 90th percentile | $84,420 |
| People employed | 14,340 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 13,530 | $64,690 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 400 | $37,150 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | — | $53,590 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | — | $62,720 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 253.67× | 13,530 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 0.58× | 400 |
Related occupations
Part of the Construction and Energy & Natural Resources career clusters.
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators · 47-2073.00 Compare →
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining · 47-5022.00 Compare →
- Helpers--Extraction Workers · 47-5081.00 Compare →
- Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas · 47-5023.00 Compare →
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining · 47-5044.00 Compare →
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas · 47-5012.00 Compare →
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines · 49-3042.00 Compare →
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery · 49-9043.00 Compare →
- Crane and Tower Operators · 53-7021.00 Compare →
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics · 49-9041.00 Compare →
- Pile Driver Operators · 47-2072.00 Compare →
- Hoist and Winch Operators · 53-7041.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Continuous Mining Machine Operators — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators Compare →
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining Compare →
- Helpers--Extraction Workers Compare →
- Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas Compare →
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining Compare →
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- No formal educational credential · typical entry level
- Job zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Transportation and Materials Moving · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 23rd percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Continuous Mining Machine Operators show 4th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,600 annual U.S. openings
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators rank in the 4th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 1,600 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+0.6%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $63,380, across about 14,340 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Continuous Mining Machine Operators show 4th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,600 annual U.S. openings • Continuous Mining Machine Operators rank in the 4th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 1,600 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+0.6%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $63,380, across about 14,340 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Continuous Mining Machine Operators". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5041-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
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
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Continuous Mining Machine Operators." 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; 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/roles/role-47-5041-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Continuous Mining Machine Operators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5041-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-47-5041-00,
title = {Continuous Mining Machine Operators},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; 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/roles/role-47-5041-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.