What is the Salary of a Heavy Equipment Operator?
Heavy equipment operators work in both industrial and construction settings. Their primary responsibility is to operate heavy industrial or construction equipment such as backhoes, bulldozers, road graders, piledrivers and trench excavators. Heavy equipment operators frequently work as part of a team where the device they operate has a specific role in the process (i.e., trench digging, piledriving, tamping and so forth).
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Training for Heavy Equipment Operators
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In the past, heavy equipment operators received on-the-job training, starting with the simple-to-use, light-duty equipment and moving up with seniority and as they were trained in operating heavier equipment. While this career track is still possible today, most new heavy equipment operators have received some type of training, usually either through a vocational or technical school or an International Union of Operating Engineers training program. The highly computerized larger heavy equipment machines today almost all require special training and certification to operate.
Average Monthly Salary of Heavy Equipment Operators
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the average hourly wage of paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators as $16.00 as of May 2008. Assuming full-time employment, that works out to a monthly salary of $2,720. The average hourly wage of operating engineers and other construction equipment operators was $18.88, which comes to $3,210 monthly. And the average hourly wage for piledriver operators was $23.01, which is a monthly salary of $3,912.
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Working Conditions
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Heavy equipment operators work with dangerous equipment, and are sometimes injured, even with good safety precautions. They also usually work outdoors, so the working conditions can be unpleasant upon occasion. That said, it is not safe to operate some kinds of heavy machinery during inclement weather, so heavy equipment operator hours and income can be weather-dependent.
Employment Prospects
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job prospects for heavy equipment operators will be about average, with 12 percent job growth projected between 2008 and 2018.
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