Job Check
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.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Tend pumps, compressors, or generators to provide power for tools, machinery, or equipment or to heat or move materials, such as asphalt.Mostly human for now
- 02Lubricate, clean, or repair machinery, equipment, or tools.Mostly human for now
- 03Signal equipment operators to facilitate alignment, movement, or adjustment of machinery, equipment, or materials.Mostly human for now
- 04Read plans, instructions, or specifications to determine work activities.People already use AI for this at work
- 05Measure, mark, or record openings or distances to layout areas where construction work will be performed.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Clean or prepare construction sites to eliminate possible hazards.Mostly human for now
- 07Dig ditches or trenches, backfill excavations, or compact and level earth to grade specifications, using picks, shovels, pneumatic tampers, or rakes.Mostly human for now
- 08Load, unload, or identify building materials, machinery, or tools, distributing them to the appropriate locations, according to project plans or specifications.Mostly human for now
- 09Position, join, align, or seal structural components, such as concrete wall sections or pipes.Mostly human for now
- 10Perform site activities required of green certified construction practices, such as implementing waste management procedures, identifying materials for reuse, or installing erosion or sedimentation control mechanisms.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss3%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
5%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 5% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 90% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Tend pumps, compressors, or generators to provide power for tools, machinery, or equipment or to heat or move materials, such as asphalt.
- Lubricate, clean, or repair machinery, equipment, or tools.
- Signal equipment operators to facilitate alignment, movement, or adjustment of machinery, equipment, or materials.