Community Sentiment
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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers?
Task-level automation exposure for Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
35%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$61,770 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
9,780 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.3%
employment change
1,000 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 38 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$35,370 – $92,310
Highest medians
Illinois $92,310
North Dakota $81,400
Alaska $80,210
Wyoming $77,820
Connecticut $71,890
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $35,370
Missouri $44,650
North Carolina $45,890
Nebraska $46,170
Kentucky $46,600
State figures come from the 53-7072 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 35%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 38%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 8%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 9%
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 34/100
Moderate
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
14 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) 25%
3 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 22%
3 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 53%
8 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
#14609 · Core · 48% automatable
Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.
text generation — Reporting malfunctions is structured information relay
Monitor equipment gauges or displays to ensure proper operation. Report vehicle or equipment malfunctions.
#14610 · Core · 82% automatable
Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#14614 · Core · 60% automatable
Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.
decision support — Operational planning drafted; execution accountability human
Plan work operations.
#14613 · Core · 15% automatable
Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
physical manipulation — Physical control of pumping equipment
Control pumps or pumping equipment.
#14611 · Core · 40% automatable
Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
interpersonal — Material-handling coordination tied to physical operations
Communicate with others to coordinate material handling or movement.
#14618 · Core · 10% automatable
Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Connecting hoses requires physical fitting
Connect hoses to equipment or machinery.
#14612 · Core · 24% automatable
Tend vessels that store substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials, checking levels of substances by using calibrated rods or by reading mercury gauges and tank charts.
visual inspection — Monitoring cargo conditions is physical/sensor-based
Monitor cargo area conditions. Measure the level or depth of water or other liquids.
#14616 · Core · 9% automatable
Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
physical manipulation — Machinery cleaning requires hands-on work
Clean machinery or equipment. Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.
#14615 · Core · 71% automatable
Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.
information retrieval — Parse work orders into procedures reliably
Review work orders or schedules to determine operations or procedures. Receive information or instructions for performing work assignments.
#14622 · Core · 25% automatable
Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.
physical manipulation — Testing samples requires lab hands-on work
Test materials, solutions, or samples.
#14619 · Supplemental · 42% automatable
Tend auxiliary equipment such as water treatment and refrigeration units, and heat exchangers.
visual inspection — Sensor/vision monitoring possible, but physical verification and accountability remain human
Monitor equipment operation to ensure proper functioning.
#14620 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Add chemicals and solutions to tanks to ensure that specifications are met.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of processing equipment
Load materials into equipment for processing.
#14617 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Collect and deliver sample solutions for laboratory analysis.
physical manipulation — Manual moving of materials and supplies
Move materials, equipment, or supplies. Collect samples for analysis or testing.
#14621 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Pump two or more materials into one tank to blend mixtures.
physical manipulation — Physical control of pumping equipment
Control pumps or pumping equipment.
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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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