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Operations Monitoring

Cross-functional skill · O*NET work requirement

Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

In the O*NET occupational database, Operations Monitoring 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 303 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 Operations Monitoring

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 4.6 4.9
Commercial Pilots 4.4 4.8
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.3 3.9
Chemical Plant and System Operators 4.1 4.5
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 4.1 3.9
Gas Plant Operators 4.1 4.4
Biomass Plant Technicians 4.0 3.9
Boilermakers 4.0 3.1
Conveyor Operators and Tenders 4.0 4.0
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 4.0 3.9
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 4.0 4.0
Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians 4.0 4.0
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers 4.0 3.9
Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators 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
Locomotive Engineers 4.0 4.0
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 4.0
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators 4.0 3.9
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers 4.0 4.6
Pile Driver Operators 4.0 3.6
Power Plant Operators 4.0 4.0
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 4.0
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 4.0 3.6
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators 4.0 3.9
Wellhead Pumpers 4.0 3.9
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.0 3.3
Biofuels Processing Technicians 3.9 3.8
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.9
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 3.9 3.9
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.9
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.9 4.0
Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment 3.9 3.9
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.5
Geothermal Technicians 3.9 4.0
Hydroelectric Plant Technicians 3.9 3.9
Manufacturing Engineers 3.9 3.9
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders 3.9 3.9
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.9 3.9
Nuclear Technicians 3.9 4.1

Showing the top 40 of 303 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Operations Monitoring

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). 39.6% of the 303 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (120 roles).

Across those roles, 31.2% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 33.5% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.55 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 27.3% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 19.0% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 10.7% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 6.2% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 1.5% 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
Computer Hardware Engineers 3.0 52.2% 4.0/5
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.1 33.4% 4.0/5
Chemists 3.0 61.8% 4.0/5
Robotics Engineers 3.6 42.0% 4.0/5
Biological Technicians 3.0 55.5% 4.0/5
Chemical Technicians 3.3 53.9% 4.0/5
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians 3.5 51.6% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.8 27.2% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.0 22.8% 4.0/5
Nanosystems Engineers 3.0 63.0% 4.0/5
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 3.0 45.3% 4.0/5
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.4 27.2% 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 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 Operations Monitoring matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Operations Monitoring (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 15.8% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Operations Monitoring (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Manufacturing 5,727,170 44.9%
Construction 3,511,440 43.2%
Transportation and Warehousing 2,709,170 36.7%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 1,445,450 16.0%
Health Care and Social Assistance 1,431,670 6.2%
Wholesale Trade 1,213,030 20.1%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 1,188,130 11.0%
Retail Trade 946,840 6.1%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 836,540 18.9%
Educational Services 787,240 5.8%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 536,670 22.7%
Information 481,080 16.5%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Sector 4.7× 74.3%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 4.16× 65.7%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 4.04× 63.8%
Exterminating and Pest Control Services National industry 4.04× 63.8%
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 3.99× 63.1%
Machine Shops National industry 3.96× 62.6%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 3.94× 62.2%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 3.93× 62.1%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 3.76× 59.4%
Nuclear Electric Power Generation National industry 3.51× 55.4%
Roofing Contractors National industry 3.44× 54.4%
Utilities Sector 3.25× 51.4%

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.

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
Control Precision Ability 241
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 197
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 195
Mechanical Knowledge 210
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 253
Manual Dexterity Ability 231
Finger Dexterity Ability 224
Visualization Ability 226
Perceptual Speed Ability 229
Multilimb Coordination Ability 173
Troubleshooting Cross-functional skill 134
Reaction Time Ability 128

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. "Operations Monitoring." 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/operations-monitoring

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Operations Monitoring. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/skills/operations-monitoring

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-operations-monitoring,
  title  = {Operations Monitoring},
  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/operations-monitoring}
}

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