What do they do?

Help extraction craft workers, such as earth drillers, blasters and explosives workers, derrick operators, and mining machine operators, by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include supplying equipment or cleaning work area.

Also known as:

Blasting Helper, Continuous Miner Operator Helper, Derrick Hand, Driller Helper, Driller's Assistant, Longwall Machine Operator Helper, Mine Laborer, Miner Helper, Powderman, Salt Miner

Typical Wages

Projected Growth Rate

Employment of Helpers--Extraction Workers is projected to grow 13 percent from 2020 to 2030, faster than average compared to all occupations.

Projected Employment in OH

No Data Available
  • 13.5%

    Change

    Ranks #15 in job growth rate
    50

    Job Openings

    Ranks #7 in net job growth

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Education Level

Percent of workers in this field with these degrees:

  • Doctorate or Professional Degree  (<1%)
  • Master's degree  (1%)
  • Bachelor's degree  (5%)
  • Associate's degree  (6%)
  • Some college, no degree  (17%)
  • High school diploma equivalent  (54%)
  • Less than high school diploma  (18%)

People in this career often have these skills:

  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
  • Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
  • Equipment Maintenance - Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
  • Troubleshooting - Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
  • Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.

People in this career often know a lot about:

  • Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

People in this career often have talent in:

  • Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination - The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Reaction Time - The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Static Strength - The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Rate Control - The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Depth Perception - The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.

People in this career often do these activities:

  • Assist skilled construction or extraction personnel.
  • Monitor extraction operations.
  • Drive trucks or truck-mounted equipment.
  • Load or unload materials used in construction or extraction.
  • Operate mining equipment.
  • Select construction materials.
  • Maintain drilling equipment.
  • Collect geological samples.
  • Signal equipment operators to indicate proper equipment positioning.
  • Clean work sites.
  • Dismantle equipment or temporary structures.
  • Prepare excavation or extraction sites for commissioning or decommissioning.
  • Load materials into construction equipment.
  • Dig holes or trenches.

This page includes data from:

O*NET OnLine Career data: O*NET 28.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Logo Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics

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