Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
Also called: Floor Hand, Roustabout, Roustabout Hand, Roustabout PusherAssemble or repair oil field equipment using hand and power tools. Perform other tasks as needed.
On a phone, press and hold a picture to save it to Photos.
opens your phone's share sheet, where you can save both to Photos
What the data says: AI couldn't halve the time on any of its 11 rated tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 3.6% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 8.7 hires for every 10 job openings in mining and logging, which employs about 87% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.8.7 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $49,400 | $45,150 to $62,150 | 70 |
| Alaska | $60,810 | $56,380 to $71,930 | 430 |
| Arkansas | $44,960 | $44,800 to $48,160 | 120 |
| California | $48,880 | $43,340 to $64,260 | 660 |
| Colorado | $49,050 | $46,670 to $57,530 | 1,620 |
| Florida | $57,080 | $49,570 to $60,450 | 40 |
| Illinois | $46,500 | $45,720 to $47,990 | 290 |
| Indiana | $51,740 | $38,270 to $51,940 | 100 |
| Kansas | $46,220 | $40,100 to $58,980 | 570 |
| Louisiana | $44,850 | $38,670 to $60,400 | 3,460 |
| Michigan | $51,720 | $44,320 to $61,450 | 290 |
| Mississippi | $49,240 | $39,570 to $60,410 | 420 |
| Montana | $58,800 | $48,300 to $61,420 | 200 |
| Nebraska | $53,340 | $49,240 to $59,350 | 40 |
| New Mexico | $50,000 | $37,250 to $65,790 | 2,220 |
| North Dakota | $60,480 | $48,720 to $64,890 | 2,460 |
| Ohio | $51,230 | $37,820 to $58,320 | 450 |
| Oklahoma | $47,260 | $38,480 to $56,460 | 2,730 |
| Pennsylvania | $47,520 | $45,880 to $55,830 | 1,610 |
| South Dakota | $50,370 | $49,450 to $60,560 | 40 |
| Texas | $45,950 | $37,930 to $53,720 | 24,430 |
| Utah | $48,270 | $47,470 to $51,620 | 740 |
| Wyoming | $46,660 | $43,860 to $55,470 | 1,180 |
Nationally: $46,960. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on none of its 11 rated tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Unscrew or tighten pipes, casing, tubing, and pump rods, using hand and power wrenches and tongs. | Not published |
| Not rated | Clean trucks used in the fields. | Not published |
| Not much | Walk flow lines to locate leaks, using electronic detectors and by making visual inspections, and repair the leaks. | Not published |
| Not much | Move pipes to and from trucks, using truck winches and motorized lifts, or by hand. | Not published |
| Not much | Dismantle and repair oil field machinery, boilers, and steam engine parts, using hand tools and power tools. | Not published |
| Not rated | Lay gas and oil pipelines. | Not published |
See all 13 tasks
| Not much | Bolt together pump and engine parts. | Not published |
| Not much | Guide cranes to move loads about decks. | Not published |
| Not much | Dig drainage ditches around wells and storage tanks. | Not published |
| Not much | Cut down and remove trees and brush to clear drill sites, to reduce fire hazards, and to make way for roads to sites. | Not published |
| Not much | Supply equipment to rig floors as requested and provide assistance to roughnecks. | Not published |
| Not much | Clean up spilled oil by bailing it into barrels. | Not published |
| Not much | Dig holes, set forms, and mix and pour concrete into forms to make foundations for wood or steel derricks. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 0 of the 13 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 13 tasks fall under 12 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perform general construction or extraction activities | |||
| Maintain tools or equipment | |||
| Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas | |||
| Install plumbing or piping equipment or systems | |||
| Prepare mixtures or solutions | |||
| Dispose of waste or debris | |||
| Assemble equipment or components | |||
| Inspect commercial, industrial, or production systems or equipment |
Show all 12 activities
| Move materials, equipment, or supplies | |||
| Install commercial or production equipment | |||
| Load products, materials, or equipment for transportation or further processing | |||
| Operate lifting or moving equipment |
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for roustabouts, oil and gas specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 22,164 moves out
- 1 Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Low +4.2% 9%
- 2 Computer User Support Specialists Very high -3.5% 7%
- 3 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 5%
- 4 Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers High -3.3% 4%
- 5 Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Moderate +3.8% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 18,846 moves in
- 1 Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Low +4.2% 11%
- 2 Computer User Support Specialists Very high -3.5% 7%
- 3 Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers High -3.3% 4%
- 4 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 3%
- 5 Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Moderate +3.8% 3%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 100% not published
O*NET marks 100% of the answers as too uncertain to publish, so the parts shown don't add up to 100%.
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 18 people answered.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
BLS publishes no credential figures for this occupation.
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
See it online, and explore any career: https://www.pathmosaic.com/card/47-5071.00