AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Furniture Finishers?

Task-level automation exposure for Furniture Finishers: 22 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

19% weighted task index

22 of 22 tasks scored

Median Salary

$44,540 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

14,480 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-3.5% employment change

1,500 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 43 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$32,160 – $59,830

Highest medians

Connecticut $59,830

Massachusetts $56,300

New Hampshire $56,050

Colorado $50,000

California $49,080

Lowest medians

Tennessee $32,160

Alabama $34,950

Texas $36,350

Oklahoma $37,190

New Jersey $37,690

State figures come from the 51-7021 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 19%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 75%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 9%

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 11/100 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

22 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) 7%

2 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 12%

3 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 80%

17 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

#14251 · Core · 10% automatable

Brush, spray, or hand-rub finishing ingredients, such as paint, oil, stain, or wax, onto and into wood grain and apply lacquer or other sealers.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

#14254 · Core · 7% automatable

Fill and smooth cracks or depressions, remove marks and imperfections, and repair broken parts, using plastic or wood putty, glue, nails, or screws.

physical manipulation — Hands-on upholstery and furniture repair in unstructured materials

Fill cracks, imperfections, or holes in products or workpieces. Repair furniture or upholstery.

#14252 · Core · 8% automatable

Smooth, shape, and touch up surfaces to prepare them for finishing, using sandpaper, pumice stones, steel wool, chisels, sanders, or grinders.

physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel

Shape surfaces or edges of wood workpieces. Operate grinding equipment.

#14263 · Core · 8% automatable

Remove accessories prior to finishing, and mask areas that should not be exposed to finishing processes or substances.

physical manipulation — Removing parts from equipment is hands-on

Remove accessories, tools, or other parts from equipment.

#14259 · Core · 4% automatable

Remove old finishes and damaged or deteriorated parts, using hand tools, stripping tools, sandpaper, steel wool, abrasives, solvents, or dip baths.

physical manipulation — Shaping wood edges requires hands-on tools

Shape surfaces or edges of wood workpieces.

#14264 · Core · 8% automatable

Treat warped or stained surfaces to restore original contours and colors.

physical manipulation — Hands-on upholstery and furniture repair in unstructured materials

Repair furniture or upholstery.

#14253 · Core · 58% automatable

Select appropriate finishing ingredients such as paint, stain, lacquer, shellac, or varnish, depending on factors such as wood hardness and surface type.

decision support — Input material selection from specs; human approves

Select production input materials.

#14250 · Core · 12% automatable

Mix finish ingredients to obtain desired colors or shades.

physical manipulation — Mixing finishes requires hands-on craft judgment

Mix ingredients to create specific finishes.

#14267 · Core · 9% automatable

Remove excess solvent, using cloths soaked in paint thinner.

physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces

Clean workpieces or finished products.

#14256 · Core · 22% automatable

Examine furniture to determine the extent of damage or deterioration, and to decide on the best method for repair or restoration.

visual inspection — Property condition assessment requires physical presence

Examine condition of property or products.

#14255 · Core · 4% automatable

Distress surfaces with woodworking tools or abrasives before staining to create an antique appearance, or rub surfaces to bring out highlights and shadings.

physical manipulation — Shaping wood edges requires hands-on tools

Shape surfaces or edges of wood workpieces.

#14268 · Core · 10% automatable

Stencil, gild, emboss, mark, or paint designs or borders to reproduce the original appearance of restored pieces, or to decorate new pieces.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

#14261 · Core · 8% automatable

Disassemble items to prepare them for finishing, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Disassembly requires hands-on tool use

Disassemble equipment for maintenance or repair.

#14265 · Supplemental · 50% automatable

Confer with customers to determine furniture colors or finishes.

interpersonal — Order spec negotiation with customers is relational

Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.

#14258 · Supplemental · 68% automatable

Recommend woods, colors, finishes, and furniture styles, using knowledge of wood products, fashions, and styles.

decision support — Generates improvement options; human tailors and owns

Advise others on ways to improve processes or products.

#14262 · Supplemental · 9% automatable

Wash surfaces to prepare them for finish application.

physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces

Clean workpieces or finished products.

#14260 · Supplemental · 80% automatable

Follow blueprints to produce specific designs.

information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders

Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.

#14257 · Supplemental · 11% automatable

Paint metal surfaces electrostatically, or by using a spray gun or other painting equipment.

physical manipulation — Manual spray/coating control requires dexterity and judgment

Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products. Operate painting or coating equipment.

#14266 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Replace or refurbish upholstery of items, using tacks, adhesives, softeners, solvents, stains, or polish.

physical manipulation — Hands-on upholstery and furniture repair in unstructured materials

Repair furniture or upholstery.

#14269 · Supplemental · 45% automatable

Design, create, and decorate entire pieces or specific parts of furniture, such as draws for cabinets.

decision support — AI aids furniture concepts; ergonomics and fabrication human

Design furniture.

#14271 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Spread graining ink over metal portions of furniture to simulate wood-grain finish.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

#14270 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Brush bleaching agents on wood surfaces to restore natural color.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

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

See the full method →

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