Skip to main content
FG
FutureGrid
Back to Careers

Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators

Construction and Extraction · SOC 47-2071

0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$53,340
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
6,700
Proj. Annual Openings
41,820
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-1.5%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
100/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 47-2071 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
0.0%
Low · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
60/100
High friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$53,340
No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
Projected openings
6,700
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +3.2%.
Observed/proxy demand
FY— certified LCAs; 8,939 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Operations MonitoringOperation and ControlMonitoringCritical ThinkingCoordination

Transition context

  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure0.0%
AI Resiliency100/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure1.2%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

11.8%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI0%
AI ability · AIOE35.4%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne83%

Top Skills

1.Operations Monitoring
2.Operation and Control
3.Monitoring
4.Critical Thinking
5.Coordination

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

No H-1B certified LCA filings recorded for this occupation in FY2016–FY2025.

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.

Common titles: Asphalt Paver Operator, Asphalt Paving Machine Operator, Asphalt Raker, Asphalt Roller Operator, Equipment Operator (EO), Loader Operator

Representative Tasks

  • Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
  • Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.
  • Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.
  • Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.
  • Coordinate truck dumping.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Operate road-surfacing equipment.
  • Load materials into construction equipment.
  • Direct construction or extraction personnel.
  • Monitor construction operations.
  • Coordinate construction project activities.

Tools & Technologies

Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D · hotMicrosoft Excel · hotMicrosoft Office software · hotMicrosoft Outlook · hotEmail softwareTime report software

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
1.2%
Avg AI Exposure
12
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 47-2071: 2019 — employment: 45,770, median wage: $40,130; 2020 — employment: 44,560, median wage: $41,540; 2021 — employment: 44,200, median wage: $46,960; 2022 — employment: 41,470, median wage: $47,270; 2023 — employment: 43,080, median wage: $48,980; 2025 — employment: 41,820, median wage: $53,340.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure0.0%1.2%
OutlookBright ↗70% Bright
Median Salary$53,340N/A
AI Resiliency100/100N/A