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