Career Explorer Construction and trades
Human edge, growing
Miscellaneous construction and related workers
Lay out, cut, and place segmental paving units. Includes installers of bedding and restraining materials for the paving units.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 80% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +3.9% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work, and US employers are expected to hire more people into it than average.
- Median pay (2025)
- $49,910
- Job growth to 2035
- +3.9%
- Openings a year
- 2,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 29,500
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Explain regulations, policies, or procedures
- Create visual designs or displays
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Build structures
- Perform general construction or extraction activities
- Apply materials to fill gaps or imperfections
What the work looks like
- Prepare base for installation by removing unstable or unsuitable materials, compacting and grading the soil, draining or stabilizing weak or saturated soils and taking measures to prevent water penetration and migration of bedding sand.
- Supply and place base materials, edge restraints, bedding sand and jointing sand.
- Discuss the design with the client.
- Set pavers, aligning and spacing them correctly.
- Sweep sand into the joints and compact pavement until the joints are full.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Helpers--electriciansHuman edge, steady, Index 81, +0.6%
- Derrick operators, oil and gasHuman edge, steady, Index 87, +1.6%
- Helpers--extraction workersHuman edge, steady, Index 92, +1.7%
- Highway maintenance workersHuman edge, steady, Index 84, +3.4%
Also known as: Cutter, Paver, Paver Installer, Paving Stone Installer, Paver Layer, Segmental Wall Installer.
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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.