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Highway Maintenance Workers

Construction and Extraction · SOC 47-4051

0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$50,260
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
18,400
Proj. Annual Openings
154,960
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+0.4%/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 47-4051 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
57/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$50,260
No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
Projected openings
18,400
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +3.0%.
Observed/proxy demand
FY— certified LCAs; 21,499 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Operation and ControlOperations MonitoringMonitoringCoordinationActive Listening

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.

11.6%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI1.6%
AI ability · AIOE33.1%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne87%

Top Skills

1.Operation and Control
2.Operations Monitoring
3.Monitoring
4.Coordination
5.Active Listening

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

Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement and repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road, or plow snow from roadway.

Common titles: Equipment Operator (EO), Highway Maintainer, Highway Maintenance Crew Worker, Highway Maintenance Technician, Highway Maintenance Worker, Maintenance Technician

Representative Tasks

  • Set out signs and cones around work areas to divert traffic.
  • Flag motorists to warn them of obstacles or repair work ahead.
  • Perform preventative maintenance on vehicles and heavy equipment.
  • Drive trucks to transport crews and equipment to work sites.
  • Erect, install, or repair guardrails, road shoulders, berms, highway markers, warning signals, and highway lighting, using hand tools and power tools.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Direct vehicle traffic.
  • Maintain mechanical equipment.
  • Drive trucks or truck-mounted equipment.
  • Install fencing or other barriers.
  • Remove debris or vegetation from work sites.

Tools & Technologies

Microsoft Excel · hotMicrosoft Office software · hotMicrosoft Outlook · hotMicrosoft PowerPoint · hotMicrosoft Word · hot

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 47-4051: 2019 — employment: 150,860, median wage: $40,730; 2020 — employment: 149,890, median wage: $41,660; 2021 — employment: 141,150, median wage: $45,880; 2022 — employment: 143,330, median wage: $44,930; 2023 — employment: 150,860, median wage: $47,360; 2025 — employment: 154,960, median wage: $50,260.

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%
OutlookAverage70% Bright
Median Salary$50,260N/A
AI Resiliency100/100N/A