Industry group, 2123
Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying
102,570 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $66,090 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 32 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 22%
- 7%
- 71%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 13% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 14%. Today's estimate: 15%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 91% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining | 16,740 | 10% | 3.6 million | $57K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 9,690 | 14% | 2.8 million | $55K |
| Office Clerks, General | 2,380 | 54% | 2.7 million | $46K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers | 4,450 | 27% | 2.5 million | $81K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 1,110 | 78% | 1.8 million | $50K |
| Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | 9,230 | 9% | 1.7 million | $52K |
| General and Operations Managers | 2,970 | 23% | 1.4 million | $122K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 1,210 | 43% | 1.1 million | $50K |
| Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping | 2,380 | 21% | 1 million | $47K |
| Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance | 590 | 80% | 976,853 | $55K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 1,440 | 32% | 955,472 | $90K |
| Industrial Machinery Mechanics | 2,680 | 15% | 858,459 | $65K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 94 smaller jobs (9,090 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 97% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Become familiar with digging plans, machine capabilities and limitations, and efficient and safe digging procedures in a given application.Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining3.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Learn and follow safety regulations.Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators1.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Estimate material or worker requirements to complete jobs.First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations.Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers825,355 hours100% of the task within reach
- Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Office Clerks, General596,127 hours100% of the task within reach
- Read specifications, such as blueprints, to determine construction requirements or to plan procedures.First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers519,632 hours70% of the task within reach
- Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.Industrial Production Managers489,499 hours92% of the task within reach
- Analyze test results, machine error messages, or information obtained from operators to diagnose equipment problems.Industrial Machinery Mechanics486,534 hours100% of the task within reach
- Document quantity, quality, type, weight, test result data, and value of materials or products to maintain shipping, receiving, and production records and files.Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping469,496 hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze worker or production problems and recommend solutions, such as improving production methods or implementing motivational plans.First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers456,671 hours60% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works