Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Troubleshooting
- Repairing
- Active Listening
Key knowledge
- Building and Construction
- Mechanical
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Public Safety and Security
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
- Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.
- Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.
- Operate oil distributors, loaders, chip spreaders, dump trucks, and snow plows.
- Coordinate truck dumping.
- Set up and tear down equipment.
- Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.
- Shovel blacktop.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (41% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (46.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (24.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 94% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Occasional contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 64% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 85% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 79% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 65% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 78% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 33.03%
- Contact with others about half the time: 10.06%
- Contact with others most of the time: 27.99%
- Constant contact with others: 28.93%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 31.81%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.84%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 9.73%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 16.43%
- Important: 26.55%
- Very important: 27.39%
- Extremely important: 29.64%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.53%
- Very little freedom: 15.34%
- Limited freedom: 36.46%
- Some freedom: 26.9%
- A lot of freedom: 18.77%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.12%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.2%
- Every day: 14.33%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.31%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.13%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.86%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.4%
- Every day: 4.3%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.41%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 28.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 44.01%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.13%
- Every day: 8.03%
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0.77%
- Fairly serious: 10.02%
- Serious: 50.58%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 38.63%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 47-2071.00 · SOC 47-2071 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8