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Pile Driver Operators
Construction and Extraction · SOC 47-2072
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$73,300
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
500
Proj. Annual Openings
2,310
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-6.9%/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 47-2072 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
- $73,300
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 500
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +4.3%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- —
- FY— certified LCAs; 612 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Operation and ControlOperations MonitoringMonitoringEquipment MaintenanceTroubleshooting
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.
11.5%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI0%
AI ability · AIOE34.5%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne82%
Top Skills
1.Operation and Control
2.Operations Monitoring
3.Monitoring
4.Equipment Maintenance
5.Troubleshooting
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 pile drivers mounted on skids, barges, crawler treads, or locomotive cranes to drive pilings for retaining walls, bulkheads, and foundations of structures such as buildings, bridges, and piers.
Common titles: Pile Driver, Pile Driver Operator, Pile Driving Operator
Representative Tasks
- •Move hand and foot levers of hoisting equipment to position piling leads, hoist piling into leads, and position hammers over pilings.
- •Move levers and turn valves to activate power hammers, or to raise and lower drophammers that drive piles to required depths.
- •Drive pilings to provide support for buildings or other structures, using heavy equipment with a pile driver head.
- •Conduct pre-operational checks on equipment to ensure proper functioning.
- •Clean, lubricate, and refill equipment.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
- •Operate heavy-duty construction or installation equipment.
- •Position structural components.
- •Inspect equipment or tools to be used in construction or excavation.
- •Clean equipment or facilities.
Tools & Technologies
Microsoft Excel · hotEmail softwareGlobal positioning system GPS softwareGRL Engineers Wave Equation Analysis Program GRLWEAPPile Dynamics Case Pile Wave Analysis Program CAPWAPPile Dynamics Pile Driving Analyzer PDA
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
Multi-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 47-2072: 2019 — employment: 3,540, median wage: $62,600; 2020 — employment: 3,820, median wage: $63,370; 2021 — employment: 3,760, median wage: $76,260; 2022 — employment: 3,290, median wage: $64,310; 2023 — employment: 3,010, median wage: $63,550; 2025 — employment: 2,310, median wage: $73,300.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.
Sector Comparison
| Metric | This Career | Sector Average |
|---|---|---|
| AI Exposure | 0.0% | 1.2% |
| Outlook | Bright ↗ | 70% Bright |
| Median Salary | $73,300 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |