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 Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders?
Task-level automation exposure for Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
14%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$50,270 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
96,130 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-3.6%
employment change
9,000 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 44 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$30,530 – $63,640
Highest medians
Oklahoma $63,640
Maine $61,780
Utah $60,790
Washington $59,410
Louisiana $58,230
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $30,530
Kansas $45,840
New Jersey $45,950
Iowa $46,110
South Dakota $46,910
State figures come from the 51-9196 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 14%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 77%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 0%
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 33/100
Moderate
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
14 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) 0%
0 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 16%
2 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 84%
12 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
#12678 · Core · 20% automatable
Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
visual inspection — Flaw location on physical products needs presence
Inspect finished products to locate flaws. Adjust equipment to ensure optimal performance.
#12683 · Core · 38% automatable
Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
visual inspection — Malfunction detection relies on live physical observation
Watch operating equipment to detect malfunctions.
#12679 · Core · 18% automatable
Start machines and move controls to regulate tension on pressure rolls, to synchronize speed of machine components, and to adjust temperatures of glue or paraffin.
physical manipulation — Manual temperature control adjustment
Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.
#12689 · Core · 8% automatable
Disassemble machines to maintain, repair, or replace broken or worn parts, using hand or power tools.
physical manipulation — Disassembly requires hands-on tool use
Disassemble equipment for maintenance or repair.
#12681 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
physical manipulation — Mounting tools requires hands-on setup
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment.
#12687 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Cut products to specified dimensions, using hand or power cutters.
physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting
Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing.
#12685 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers.
physical manipulation — Feeding materials into equipment is physical
Load materials into production equipment. Feed materials or products into or through equipment.
#12688 · Supplemental · 38% automatable
Monitor finished cartons as they drop from forming machines into rotating hoppers and into gravity feed chutes to prevent jamming.
visual inspection — Malfunction detection relies on live physical observation
Watch operating equipment to detect malfunctions.
#12680 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Adjust guide assemblies, forming bars, and folding mechanisms according to specifications, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Manual fixture adjustment
Set equipment guides, stops, spacers, or other fixtures.
#12682 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Measure, space, and set saw blades, cutters, and perforators, according to product specifications.
physical manipulation — Physical control setting for cutting
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment. Set equipment controls to meet cutting specifications.
#12686 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Fill glue and paraffin reservoirs, and position rollers to dispense glue onto paperboard.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#12684 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Stamp products with information such as dates, using hand stamps or automatic stamping devices.
physical manipulation — Marking workpieces is hands-on physical task
Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information.
#12690 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Remove finished cores, and stack or place them on conveyors for transfer to other work areas.
physical manipulation — Physically extracting parts from production equipment
Stack finished items for further processing or shipment. Remove products or workpieces from production equipment.
#12691 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Lift tote boxes of finished cartons, and dump cartons into feed hoppers.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
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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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