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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers?
Task-level automation exposure for Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers: 30 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
25%
weighted task index
30 of 30 tasks scored
Median Salary
$52,540 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
22,440 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-3.2%
employment change
3,700 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 47 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$35,950 – $69,800
Highest medians
Connecticut $69,800
Virginia $61,940
New York $61,720
California $60,790
South Carolina $60,380
Lowest medians
Arkansas $35,950
Montana $37,580
Utah $39,860
Nevada $40,510
Oklahoma $41,720
State figures come from the 51-9071 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 25%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 59%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 30%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 4%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 4%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 15/100
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
30 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) 15%
4 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 22%
6 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 64%
20 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 →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- Revision 08/2025 · Incumbent
Measure, cut, and file pieces of jewelry, such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Replaced: Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Constituent Tasks
#23624 · Core · 9% automatable
Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces
Clean workpieces or finished products. Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products.
#23621 · Core · 8% automatable
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
physical manipulation — Manual polishing of workpieces requires dexterity
Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products. Smooth metal surfaces or edges.
#23622 · Core · 35% automatable
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
physical manipulation — Jewelry design needs craft and material judgment
Design jewelry or decorative objects.
#23625 · Core · 8% automatable
Revision
Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting
Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing. Smooth metal surfaces or edges.
#23628 · Core · 28% automatable
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces
Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications.
#23623 · Core · 9% automatable
Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
physical manipulation — Soldering requires fine manual dexterity
Solder parts or workpieces. Repair precision devices or workpieces.
#23627 · Core · 78% automatable
Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
data analysis — Cost estimation from inputs; human validates
Estimate costs of products, services, or materials.
#23620 · Core · 6% automatable
Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.
physical manipulation — Aligning parts for assembly needs hands and judgment
Align parts or workpieces to ensure proper assembly.
#23635 · Core · 45% automatable
Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
visual inspection — Material quality often needs hands-on or visual inspection
Evaluate quality of materials or products.
#23626 · Core · 67% automatable
Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.
decision support — Ordering via systems automatable; human approves spend
Select production input materials. Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
#23632 · Core · 3% automatable
Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.
physical manipulation — Precision metal reshaping needs fine dexterity
Reshape small metal components for precision assembly.
#23638 · Core · 35% automatable
Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.
physical manipulation — Jewelry design needs craft and material judgment
Design jewelry or decorative objects.
#23636 · Core · 10% automatable
Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.
physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work
Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.
#23640 · Core · 82% automatable
Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#23630 · Core · 5% automatable
Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.
physical manipulation — Mold building is hands-on craft work
Build production molds.
#23637 · Core · 35% automatable
Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.
physical manipulation — Jewelry design needs craft and material judgment
Design jewelry or decorative objects.
#23633 · Core · 6% automatable
Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.
physical manipulation — Heating workpieces requires physical operation
Shape metal workpieces with hammers or other small hand tools. Heat material or workpieces to prepare for or complete production.
#23629 · Core · 10% automatable
Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
physical manipulation — Drilling parts requires physical tool operation
Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing. Drill holes in parts, equipment, or materials.
#23645 · Core · 43% automatable
Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.
interpersonal — Order spec negotiation with customers is relational
Design jewelry or decorative objects. Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.
#23642 · Core · 12% automatable
Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.
physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation
Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.
#23631 · Core · 4% automatable
Pour molten metal alloys or other materials into molds to cast models of jewelry.
physical manipulation — Manual placement of materials into molds
Place materials into molds.
#23639 · Supplemental · 46% automatable
Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.
decision support — Purchase research automatable; human authorizes spend
Sell products or services. Purchase products or services.
#23634 · Supplemental · 70% automatable
Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.
decision support — Valuation aided; human owns final value judgment
Determine the value of goods or services.
#23641 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Lay out designs on metal stock, and cut along markings to fabricate pieces used to cast metal molds.
physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting
Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing. Draw guide lines or markings on materials or workpieces using patterns or other references.
#23644 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Design and fabricate molds, models, and machine accessories, and modify hand tools used to cast metal and jewelry pieces.
physical manipulation — Mold building is hands-on craft work
Build production molds.
#23643 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Cut designs in molds or other materials to be used as models in the fabrication of metal and jewelry products.
physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation
Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.
#23649 · Supplemental · 3% automatable
Rout out locations where parts are to be joined to items, using routing machines.
physical manipulation — Precision metal reshaping needs fine dexterity
Reshape small metal components for precision assembly.
#23647 · Supplemental · 14% automatable
Weigh, mix, and melt metal alloys or materials needed for jewelry models.
physical manipulation — Physical measuring and dispensing of ingredients
Measure ingredients or substances to be used in production processes. Mix ingredients to create specific finishes. Melt metal, plastic, or other materials to prepare for production.
#23646 · Supplemental · 9% automatable
Anneal precious metal objects such as coffeepots, tea sets, and trays in gas ovens for prescribed times to soften metal for reworking.
physical manipulation — Physical preparation of materials by hand
Heat material or workpieces to prepare for or complete production. Prepare materials for processing.
#23648 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Rotate molds to distribute alloys and to prevent formation of air pockets.
physical manipulation — Adjusting mold position is hands-on machine work
Adjust position of molds during processing.
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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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