Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
24% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better More jobs
35.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits experienced operators coordinating crews, site safety, work sequencing, equipment use, schedules, and quality checks.

Construction Managers
11% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better Higher growth
48.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits senior operators moving into schedules, subcontractors, equipment planning, budgets, site safety, and field coordination.

Construction and Building Inspectors
25% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better
34.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers site knowledge, earthwork quality, safety standards, drawings, inspection checklists, and defect documentation.

Industrial Machinery Mechanics
41% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Higher growth
18.8 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses mechanical troubleshooting, hydraulic systems, preventive maintenance, tools, repair logs, and equipment downtime response.

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
46% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Higher growth
13.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses equipment systems, preventive maintenance, hydraulics awareness, troubleshooting, repair coordination, and service records.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

60% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 2 more strengths

Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 72 votes

53% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 60% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators was $58,710 ($28 per hour).

The median annual wage for Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators was 18.6% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators' job openings is expected to rise 3.6% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 469,270 people employed as 'Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators' within the United States.

This represents around 0.30% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 328 people are employed as 'Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators'.

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What people are saying (2)

Bingus (Low)
14 Apr 2023 00:27
Operations engineers are more of a management position, which means whoever is in that position must manage other automating robots or human workers. Robots managing other robots and humans would be a disaster.
Luke wallage (Low)
20 May 2021 09:47
Robots to fix the robots? Think it’s a while away
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.

O*NET-SOC code: 47-2073.00