Construction Laborers
Perform tasks involving physical labor at construction sites. May operate hand and power tools of all types: air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers, small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment, and a variety of other equipment and instruments. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, and clean up rubble, debris, and other waste materials. May assist other craft workers.
1,096,780 people do this job in the US. $47,120 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dig ditches or trenches, backfill excavations, or compact and level earth to grade specifications, using picks, shovels, pneumatic tampers, or rakes.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Install sewer, water, or storm drain pipes, using pipe-laying machinery or laser guidance equipment.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 11% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Raze buildings or salvage useful materials.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 8% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Grind, scrape, sand, or polish surfaces, such as concrete, marble, terrazzo, or wood flooring, using abrasive tools or machines.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 8% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Tend pumps, compressors, or generators to provide power for tools, machinery, or equipment or to heat or move materials, such as asphalt.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate jackhammers or drills to break up concrete or pavement.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.1 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Position or dismantle forms for pouring concrete, using saws, hammers, nails, or bolts.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h38 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Spray materials, such as water, sand, steam, vinyl, paint, or stucco, through hoses to clean, coat, or seal surfaces.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Control traffic passing near, in, or around work zones.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide assistance to craft workers, such as carpenters, plasterers, or masons.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Load, unload, or identify building materials, machinery, or tools, distributing them to the appropriate locations, according to project plans or specifications.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Smooth or finish freshly poured cement or concrete, using floats, trowels, screeds, or powered cement finishing tools.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining10% now, 10% by 2028
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Pipelayers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Brickmasons and Blockmasons12% now, 13% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).