Industry group, 2371
Utility System Construction
619,680 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $74,380 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: 174 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 24%
- 10%
- 67%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 11% 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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 12%. Today's estimate: 14%.
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 90% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers | 59,130 | 27% | 33 million | $80K |
| Office Clerks, General | 13,060 | 54% | 15 million | $48K |
| Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | 62,660 | 9% | 12 million | $62K |
| Project Management Specialists | 15,280 | 33% | 11 million | $102K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 5,640 | 78% | 9.1 million | $53K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers | 14,380 | 27% | 8 million | $95K |
| General and Operations Managers | 15,600 | 23% | 7.4 million | $130K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 7,470 | 43% | 6.6 million | $47K |
| Construction Managers | 24,680 | 11% | 5.8 million | $120K |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | 14,960 | 16% | 5.1 million | $61K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 15,100 | 14% | 4.3 million | $58K |
| Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers | 10,060 | 16% | 3.4 million | $79K |
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. 163 smaller jobs (62,930 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 99% 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.
- Estimate material or worker requirements to complete jobs.First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers14 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop or implement quality control programs.Construction Managers7.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Plan, schedule, or coordinate construction project activities to meet deadlines.Construction Managers7.6 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Learn and follow safety regulations.Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators7.2 million 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 Workers6.9 million hours70% 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 Workers6.1 million hours60% of the task within reach
- Develop or implement electronic maintenance programs or computer information management systems.First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers4.6 million hours96% of the task within reach
- Supervise, coordinate, or schedule the activities of construction or extractive workers.First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers4.3 million hours20% of the task within reach
- Lay out full scale drawings of pipe systems, supports, or related equipment, according to blueprints.Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters3.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates.Cost Estimators3.6 million 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.
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