Subsector, 486
Pipeline Transportation
56,210 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $105,150 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: 25 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 42%
- 9%
- 49%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 19% 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, 19%. Today's estimate: 22%.
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 84% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers | 6,300 | 42% | 5.4 million | $95K |
| Gas Plant Operators | 5,710 | 14% | 1.7 million | $86K |
| Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators | 1,580 | 45% | 1.5 million | $88K |
| Industrial Machinery Mechanics | 4,230 | 15% | 1.4 million | $90K |
| General and Operations Managers | 2,610 | 23% | 1.2 million | $164K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 1,520 | 32% | 1 million | $125K |
| Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers | 1,420 | 29% | 865,405 | $78K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers | 1,260 | 27% | 697,136 | $128K |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 480 | 63% | 632,987 | $91K |
| Project Management Specialists | 860 | 33% | 592,096 | $129K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 580 | 43% | 513,928 | $60K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 1,750 | 14% | 498,680 | $55K |
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. 87 smaller jobs (8,840 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.
- Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of system interconnections and capacities.Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers1.4 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems.Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers1.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Operate control panels to coordinate and regulate process variables such as temperature and pressure, and to direct product flow rate, according to process schedules.Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers881,506 hours100% of the task within reach
- Record, review, and compile operations records, test results, and gauge readings such as temperatures, pressures, concentrations, and flows.Gas Plant Operators796,221 hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze test results, machine error messages, or information obtained from operators to diagnose equipment problems.Industrial Machinery Mechanics767,924 hours100% of the task within reach
- Coordinate shutdowns and major projects.Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers743,626 hours99% of the task within reach
- Determine causes of abnormal pressure variances, and make corrective recommendations, such as installation of pipes to relieve overloading.Gas Plant Operators716,525 hours100% of the task within reach
- Record and compile operating data, instrument readings, documentation, and results of laboratory analyses.Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers557,575 hours100% of the task within reach
- 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.Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers510,707 hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop or maintain hygiene programs, such as noise surveys, continuous atmosphere monitoring, ventilation surveys, or asbestos management plans.Occupational Health and Safety Specialists483,265 hours96% 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.
Inside 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