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Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
Construction and Extraction · SOC 47-5012
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$67,890
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
3,200
Proj. Annual Openings
12,600
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-8.2%/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 47-5012 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
- $67,890
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 3,200
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +0.2%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- —
- FY— certified LCAs; 3,789 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Critical ThinkingOperations MonitoringOperation and ControlMonitoringActive 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.
16.8%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI5.3%
AI ability · AIOE45.2%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne53%
Top Skills
1.Critical Thinking
2.Operations Monitoring
3.Operation and Control
4.Monitoring
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
Set up or operate a variety of drills to remove underground oil and gas, or remove core samples for testing during oil and gas exploration.
Common titles: Daylight Driller, Drill Operator, Driller, Drilling Rig Operator, Motor Man, Oil Rig Driller
Representative Tasks
- •Train crews, and introduce procedures to make drill work more safe and effective.
- •Observe pressure gauge and move throttles and levers to control the speed of rotary tables, and to regulate pressure of tools at bottoms of boreholes.
- •Count sections of drill rod to determine depths of boreholes.
- •Push levers and brake pedals to control gasoline, diesel, electric, or steam draw works that lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells.
- •Connect sections of drill pipe, using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Train construction or extraction personnel.
- •Operate drilling equipment.
- •Measure work site dimensions.
- •Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
- •Install drilling equipment.
Tools & Technologies
Microsoft Excel · hotSalesforce software · hotSAP software · hotCAPSHER Technology SureTecDrillingsoftware DrillProDrillingsoftware Tubular DatabasePason WellView Field SolutionStructure query language SQL
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 47-5012: 2019 — employment: 21,010, median wage: $54,980; 2020 — employment: 15,650, median wage: $53,820; 2021 — employment: 11,170, median wage: $56,380; 2022 — employment: 12,190, median wage: $55,260; 2023 — employment: 12,180, median wage: $61,770; 2025 — employment: 12,600, median wage: $67,890.
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 | $67,890 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |