Community Sentiment
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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Etchers and Engravers?
Task-level automation exposure for Etchers and Engravers: 26 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
21%
weighted task index
26 of 26 tasks scored
Median Salary
$43,310 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
7,750 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-0.7%
employment change
800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 37 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$28,300 – $65,380
Highest medians
Vermont $65,380
Rhode Island $63,250
Arizona $59,940
New Jersey $58,000
Maryland $53,680
Lowest medians
South Carolina $28,300
Alabama $31,030
Texas $31,180
Louisiana $32,880
Oklahoma $35,890
State figures come from the 51-9194 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 21%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 69%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 8%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 17/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
26 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 10%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 11%
3 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 79%
21 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#14395 · Core · 25% automatable
Inspect etched work for depth of etching, uniformity, and defects, using calibrated microscopes, gauges, fingers, or magnifying lenses.
visual inspection — Finish inspection is physical/sensory quality check
Inspect finishes of workpieces or finished products.
#14386 · Core · 66% automatable
Examine sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut, or engraved onto workpieces.
visual inspection — Blueprints need spatial reading, human verifies sequence
Review blueprints or other instructions to determine operational methods or sequences.
#14385 · Core · 9% automatable
Clean and polish engraved areas.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces
Clean workpieces or finished products. Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products.
#14396 · Supplemental · 9% automatable
Prepare workpieces for etching or engraving by cutting, sanding, cleaning, polishing, or treating them with wax, acid resist, lime, etching powder, or light-sensitive enamel.
physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work
Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing. Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products. Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.
#14379 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools.
physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation
Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.
#14388 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Prepare etching chemicals according to formulas, diluting acid with water to obtain solutions of specified concentration.
physical manipulation — Physical mixing of chemical solutions
Mix substances to create chemical solutions.
#21027 · Supplemental · 68% automatable
Use computer software to design patterns for engraving.
visual inspection — Generates template designs; aesthetic fit needs human review
Design templates or patterns.
#14409 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Expose workpieces to acid to develop etch patterns such as designs, lettering, or figures.
physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work
Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.
#14378 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Adjust depths and sizes of cuts by adjusting heights of worktables, or by adjusting machine-arm gauges.
physical manipulation — Physical control setting for cutting
Set equipment controls to meet cutting specifications.
#14383 · Supplemental · 47% automatable
Measure and compute dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved.
data analysis — Dimension calculations from given specs
Measure materials to mark reference points, cutting lines, or other indicators. Calculate dimensions of workpieces, products, or equipment.
#14394 · Supplemental · 9% automatable
Neutralize workpieces to remove acid, wax, or enamel, using water, solvents, brushes, or specialized machines.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces
Clean workpieces or finished products.
#14382 · Supplemental · 25% automatable
Examine engraving for quality of cut, burrs, rough spots, and irregular or incomplete engraving.
visual inspection — Finish inspection is physical/sensory quality check
Inspect finishes of workpieces or finished products.
#14399 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Transfer image to workpiece, using contact printer, pantograph stylus, silkscreen printing device, or stamp pad.
physical manipulation — Printing and binding equipment operated physically
Operate equipment to print images or bind printed images together.
#14392 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Set reduction scales to attain specified sizes of reproduction on workpieces, and set pantograph controls for required heights, depths, and widths of cuts.
physical manipulation — Physical control setting for cutting
Set equipment controls to meet cutting specifications.
#14398 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Print proofs or examine designs to verify accuracy of engraving, and rework engraving as required.
visual inspection — AI vision can flag print defects; human verifies
Inspected printed materials or other images to verify quality.
#14380 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Position and clamp workpieces, plates, or rollers in holding fixtures.
physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading
Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.
#14404 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Remove wax or tape from etched glassware by using a stylus or knife, or by immersing ware in hot water.
physical manipulation — Manual trimming of workpieces
Trim excess material from workpieces. Immerse objects or workpieces in cleaning or coating solutions.
#14401 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Guide stylus over template, causing cutting tool to duplicate design or letters on workpiece.
physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation
Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.
#14384 · Supplemental · 9% automatable
Start machines and lower cutting tools to beginning points on patterns.
physical manipulation — Cutting equipment operation is manual and judgment-based
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment. Operate cutting equipment.
#14381 · Supplemental · 40% automatable
Determine machine settings, and move bars or levers to reproduce designs on rollers or plates.
decision support — Equipment settings need machine-specific judgment
Determine production equipment settings.
#14402 · Supplemental · 6% automatable
Remove completed workpieces and place them in trays.
physical manipulation — Physically extracting parts from production equipment
Remove products or workpieces from production equipment.
#14397 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Insert cutting tools or bits into machines and secure them with wrenches.
physical manipulation — Mounting tools requires hands-on setup
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment.
#14391 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Sandblast exposed areas of glass to cut designs in surfaces, using spray guns.
physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation
Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.
#14400 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Sketch, trace, or scribe layout lines and designs on workpieces, plates, dies, or rollers, using compasses, scribers, gravers, or pencils.
physical manipulation — Drawing guide lines on materials is hands-on
Draw guide lines or markings on materials or workpieces using patterns or other references.
#14407 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Fill etched characters with opaque paste to improve readability.
physical manipulation — Filling cracks is manual finishing work
Fill cracks, imperfections, or holes in products or workpieces.
#14408 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Brush or wipe acid over engraving to darken or highlight inscriptions.
physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work
Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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