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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Crane and Tower Operators?
Task-level automation exposure for Crane and Tower Operators: 11 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
21%
weighted task index
11 of 11 tasks scored
Median Salary
$68,080 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
42,890 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+3.8%
employment change
3,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 51 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$41,600 – $124,260
Highest medians
Hawaii $124,260
Nevada $115,840
Rhode Island $104,340
Washington $101,110
New Jersey $100,640
Lowest medians
Arkansas $41,600
Idaho $52,770
Indiana $52,950
West Virginia $54,830
Ohio $57,620
State figures come from the 53-7021 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 21%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 57%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 21%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 76/100
High
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
11 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 6%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 10%
1 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 84%
9 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#10768 · Core · 10% automatable
Move levers, depress foot pedals, or turn dials to operate cranes, cherry pickers, electromagnets, or other moving equipment for lifting, moving, or placing loads.
physical manipulation — Crane/hoist operation demands real-time physical control
Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
#24062 · Core · 21% automatable
Inspect crane site conditions to determine ground stability.
visual inspection — Physical site verification against specs is human
Inspect work sites to determine condition or necessary repairs. Inspect facilities or sites to determine if they meet specifications or standards. Inspect buildings or grounds to determine condition.
#10771 · Core · 13% automatable
Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage.
visual inspection — Physical inspection of moving equipment
Inspect material-moving equipment to detect problems. Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.
#10772 · Core · 22% automatable
Direct helpers engaged in placing blocking or outrigging under cranes.
physical manipulation — Material handling direction is on-floor supervision
Direct material handling or moving activities.
#10767 · Core · 53% automatable
Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.
information retrieval — Spec verification against references, human confirms edge cases
Weigh materials to ensure compliance with specifications. Verify information or specifications.
#10770 · Core · 9% automatable
Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, or grappling devices, making repairs, as necessary.
physical manipulation — Machinery cleaning requires hands-on work
Clean machinery or equipment. Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.
#10769 · Core · 12% automatable
Inspect cables or grappling devices for wear and install or replace cables, as needed.
visual inspection — Physical inspection of moving equipment
Inspect material-moving equipment to detect problems. Install parts, assemblies, or attachments in transportation or material handling equipment.
#10773 · Core · 4% automatable
Load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment.
physical manipulation — Physical lifting and loading of shipments
Load shipments, belongings, or materials.
#10776 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Direct truck drivers backing vehicles into loading bays and cover, uncover, or secure loads for delivery.
physical manipulation — Physical hand signals to direct vehicle movement
Secure cargo. Signal others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10775 · Supplemental · 80% automatable
Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions.
information retrieval — Parse work orders into procedures reliably
Review work orders or schedules to determine operations or procedures.
#10777 · Supplemental · 22% automatable
Inspect bundle packaging for conformance to regulations or customer requirements, and remove and batch packaging tickets.
visual inspection — Physical work inspection against standards
Inspect work to ensure standards are met.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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