Career Explorer Construction and trades
Human edge, steady
Loading and moving machine operators, underground mining
Operate underground loading or moving machine to load or move coal, ore, or rock using shuttle or mine car or conveyors. Equipment may include power shovels, hoisting engines equipped with cable-drawn scraper or scoop, or machines equipped with gathering arms and conveyor.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 36% 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 -15.8% by 2035, expected to shrink. 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)
- $74,500
- Job growth to 2035
- -15.8%
- Openings a year
- 400
- People doing it (2025)
- 5,900
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Connect components or supply lines to equipment or tools
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate industrial processing or production equipment
- Dispose of waste or debris
- Operate transportation equipment or vehicles
What the work looks like
- Handle high voltage sources and hang electrical cables.
- Drive loaded shuttle cars to ramps and move controls to discharge loads into mine cars or onto conveyors.
- Pry off loose material from roofs and move it into the paths of machines, using crowbars.
- Move trailing electrical cables clear of obstructions, using rubber safety gloves.
- Stop gathering arms when cars are full.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as the industry adopts autonomous vehicles.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Helpers--roofersHuman edge, steady, Index 74, -0.1%
- PaperhangersHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.3%
- Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble settersHuman edge, steady, Index 52, -11.7%
- Rock splitters, quarryHuman edge, growing, Index 92, +5.8%
Also known as: Load Haul Dump Operator (LHD Operator), Loader Operator, Loading Machine Operator, Shuttle Car Operator, Coal Hauler Operator, Equipment Operator, Miner Operator, Production Miner.
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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.