Career Explorer Transport and logistics
Human edge, steady
Dredge operators
Operate dredge to remove sand, gravel, or other materials in order to excavate and maintain navigable channels in waterways.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 68% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +0.7% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $49,640
- Job growth to 2035
- +0.7%
- Openings a year
- 100
- People doing it (2025)
- 1,300
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate construction or excavation equipment
- Operate pumping systems or equipment
- Operate lifting or moving equipment
What the work looks like
- Move levers to position dredges for excavation, to engage hydraulic pumps, to raise and lower suction booms, and to control rotation of cutterheads.
- Start and stop engines to operate equipment.
- Start power winches that draw in or let out cables to change positions of dredges, or pull in and let out cables manually.
- Pump water to clear machinery pipelines.
- Lower anchor poles to verify depths of excavations, using winches, or scan depth gauges to determine depths of excavations.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as dredge control and monitoring systems become more advanced as dredging processes become increasingly more complex, increasing the productivity of dredge operators.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, handHuman edge, steady, Index 72, +1.8%
- Tire repairers and changersHuman edge, steady, Index 91, +3.4%
- Helpers--roofersHuman edge, steady, Index 74, -0.1%
- Hoist and winch operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 69, +0.2%
Also known as: Dredge Operator, Dredger.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.