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Operation and Control

Cross-functional skill · O*NET work requirement

Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

In the O*NET occupational database, Operation and Control is a skill 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 208 of 894 occupations.

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

Occupations that rely most on Operation and Control

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 skill the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.9 5.6
Commercial Pilots 4.8 5.3
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 4.1 3.9
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 4.1 3.6
Locomotive Engineers 4.1 4.1
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 4.1 4.1
Pile Driver Operators 4.1 3.8
Chemical Plant and System Operators 4.0 3.9
Conveyor Operators and Tenders 4.0 3.9
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 3.6
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.0 4.0
Logging Equipment Operators 4.0 4.0
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators 4.0 3.8
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 3.9
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators 4.0 3.4
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.8
Agricultural Equipment Operators 3.9 3.8
Biomass Plant Technicians 3.9 3.5
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity 3.9 3.1
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.9
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 3.9 3.6
Crane and Tower Operators 3.9 3.5
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.9 4.0
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 3.9 3.6
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 3.9 4.0
Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators 3.9 3.8
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 3.9 3.0
Motorboat Operators 3.9 4.0
Power Plant Operators 3.9 4.0
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners 3.9 3.0
Ship Engineers 3.9 3.9
Subway and Streetcar Operators 3.9 3.9
Wellhead Pumpers 3.9 3.9
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 3.8 3.6
Biofuels Processing Technicians 3.8 3.5
Boilermakers 3.8 3.9
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders 3.8 3.6
Dredge Operators 3.8 3.3
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers 3.8 3.3
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.8 3.6

Showing the top 40 of 208 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Operation and Control

This skill 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). 33.7% of the 208 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (70 roles).

Across those roles, 28.4% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 33.6% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.48 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 27.6% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 19.1% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 8.7% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 6.0% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 0.7% you do it; AI checks your work

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this skill 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
Chemical Technicians 3.0 53.9% 4.0/5
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians 3.0 51.6% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.0 22.8% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.4 27.2% 4.0/5
Patternmakers, Wood 3.1 30.1% 2.5/5
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.0 27.2% 4.0/5
First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers 3.0 18.5% 3.0/5
Robotics Technicians 3.4 42.3% 3.0/5
Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers 3.3 23.4% 4.0/5
Sound Engineering Technicians 3.3 37.4% 4.0/5
Electro-Mechanical Technicians 3.5 25.7% 4.0/5
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders 3.4 23.7% 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 skill 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 Operation and Control matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Operation and Control (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 12.9% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Operation and Control (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Manufacturing 4,034,490 31.6%
Construction 3,040,570 37.4%
Transportation and Warehousing 2,966,150 40.1%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 1,811,250 20.1%
Wholesale Trade 1,089,760 18.1%
Retail Trade 1,069,290 6.9%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 887,860 20.1%
Health Care and Social Assistance 828,560 3.6%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 592,640 25.0%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 342,960 3.2%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 337,460 58.8%
Educational Services 298,210 2.2%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Landscaping Services National industry 6.42× 82.8%
Exterminating and Pest Control Services National industry 4.99× 64.4%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 4.84× 62.4%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 4.56× 58.8%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 4.51× 58.2%
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 4.33× 55.8%
Roofing Contractors National industry 4.22× 54.4%
Machine Shops National industry 3.95× 51.0%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 3.67× 47.4%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 3.16× 40.7%
Utilities Sector 3.12× 40.3%
Transportation and Warehousing Sector 3.11× 40.1%

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 197
Control Precision Ability 196
Reaction Time Ability 126
Multilimb Coordination Ability 158
Manual Dexterity Ability 189
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 195
Mechanical Knowledge 155
Troubleshooting Cross-functional skill 105
Finger Dexterity Ability 171
Rate Control Ability 89
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 127
Auditory Attention Ability 94

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. "Operation and Control." 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/skills/operation-and-control

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Operation and Control. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/skills/operation-and-control

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-operation-and-control,
  title  = {Operation and Control},
  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/skills/operation-and-control}
}

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