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Repairing

Cross-functional skill · O*NET work requirement

Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.

In the O*NET occupational database, Repairing 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 92 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 Repairing

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
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.9 4.4
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.3 4.1
Medical Equipment Repairers 4.3 4.0
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 4.1 4.0
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 4.1 4.0
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 4.0 3.9
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers 4.0 4.0
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.0 4.0
Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.0 4.0
Rail Car Repairers 4.0 4.0
Recreational Vehicle Service Technicians 4.0 4.0
Robotics Technicians 4.0 4.0
Signal and Track Switch Repairers 4.0 3.9
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.0 3.9
Avionics Technicians 3.9 4.0
Bicycle Repairers 3.9 3.1
Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment 3.9 3.9
Home Appliance Repairers 3.9 3.9
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 3.9 3.9
Motorcycle Mechanics 3.9 3.8
Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics 3.9 3.6
Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers 3.9 3.3
Watch and Clock Repairers 3.9 3.5
Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 3.8 3.8
Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers 3.8 3.9
Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians 3.8 3.9
Maintenance Workers, Machinery 3.8 3.6
Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners 3.8 3.4
Ship Engineers 3.8 3.9
Audiovisual Equipment Installers and Repairers 3.6 3.4
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.6 3.1
Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay 3.6 4.0
Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles 3.6 3.6
Millwrights 3.6 3.8
Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers 3.5 3.0
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians 3.5 3.5
Electricians 3.5 3.8
Hydroelectric Plant Technicians 3.5 3.8
Locksmiths and Safe Repairers 3.5 3.1
Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers 3.5 3.4

Showing the top 40 of 92 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Repairing

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). 35.9% of the 92 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (33 roles).

Across those roles, 26.1% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 40.3% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.66 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 24.9% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 21.6% you ask AI to explain or teach
feedback loop 15.4% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
task iteration 3.7% you and AI go back and forth
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
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 3.6 33.4% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 4.0 22.8% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.0 27.2% 4.0/5
Robotics Technicians 4.0 42.3% 3.0/5
Electronic Home Entertainment Equipment Installers and Repairers 3.6 33.9% 3.5/5
Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers 3.9 23.4% 4.0/5
Electro-Mechanical Technicians 3.8 25.7% 4.0/5
Electricians 3.5 34.3% 3.8/5
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants 3.0 22.3% 3.0/5
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.0 18.6% 3.0/5
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 3.9 40.7% 4.0/5
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 4.1 32.2% 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 Repairing matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Repairing (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 5.4% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Repairing (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Construction 1,656,340 20.4%
Manufacturing 1,475,780 11.6%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 707,670 16.0%
Retail Trade 679,420 4.4%
Wholesale Trade 453,760 7.5%
Transportation and Warehousing 426,210 5.8%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 412,530 4.6%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 398,910 16.8%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 232,360 2.2%
Educational Services 211,820 1.6%
Utilities 198,830 34.3%
Health Care and Social Assistance 186,010 0.8%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 10.3× 55.6%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 9.96× 53.8%
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 9.89× 53.4%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 8.44× 45.6%
Utilities Sector 6.35× 34.3%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 6.09× 32.9%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 5.98× 32.3%
Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers National industry 5.04× 27.2%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 4.87× 26.3%
Construction Sector 3.78× 20.4%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing Sector 3.11× 16.8%
Machine Shops National industry 3.02× 16.3%

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
Equipment Maintenance Cross-functional skill 81
Troubleshooting Cross-functional skill 86
Equipment Selection Cross-functional skill 36
Quality Control Analysis Cross-functional skill 84
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 72
Mechanical Knowledge 87
Extent Flexibility Ability 57
Operations Monitoring Cross-functional skill 88
Control Precision Ability 90
Multilimb Coordination Ability 72
Hearing Sensitivity Ability 35
Manual Dexterity Ability 89

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. "Repairing." 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/repairing

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Repairing. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/skills/repairing

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-repairing,
  title  = {Repairing},
  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/repairing}
}

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