AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials?

Task-level automation exposure for Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials: 28 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

10% weighted task index

28 of 28 tasks scored

Median Salary

$35,060 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Medium

26,120 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-15.7% employment change

2,200 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 45 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$21,980 – $40,230

Highest medians

Illinois $40,230

California $39,300

New Hampshire $38,540

Colorado $38,300

Maine $38,020

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $21,980

Alabama $26,860

Louisiana $27,170

Mississippi $27,180

Oklahoma $28,340

State figures come from the 51-6021 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 10%

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

Physical work 93%

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

Judgment & influence 6%

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 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

28 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%) 4%

1 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 96%

27 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

#14038 · Core · 11% automatable

Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers.

physical manipulation — Marking workpieces is hands-on physical task

Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information. Package products for storage or shipment.

#14035 · Core · 5% automatable

Operate steam, hydraulic, or other pressing machines to remove wrinkles from garments and flatwork items, or to shape, form, or patch articles.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14043 · Core · 4% automatable

Straighten, smooth, or shape materials to prepare them for pressing.

physical manipulation — Adjusting fabric is tactile manual work

Adjust fabrics or other materials during garment production.

#14037 · Core · 5% automatable

Remove finished pieces from pressing machines and hang or stack them for cooling, or forward them for additional processing.

physical manipulation — Physically extracting parts from production equipment

Stack finished items for further processing or shipment. Remove products or workpieces from production equipment.

#14042 · Core · 5% automatable

Finish pleated garments, determining sizes of pleats from evidence of old pleats or from work orders, using machine presses or hand irons.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14036 · Core · 5% automatable

Lower irons, rams, or pressing heads of machines into position over material to be pressed.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#21026 · Core · 8% automatable

Identify and treat spots on garments.

physical manipulation — Manual cleaning of fabrics with unpredictable materials

Clean fabrics or apparel.

#14051 · Core · 4% automatable

Shrink, stretch, or block articles by hand to conform to original measurements, using forms, blocks, and steam.

physical manipulation — Adjusting fabric is tactile manual work

Adjust fabrics or other materials during garment production.

#14049 · Core · 5% automatable

Finish fancy garments such as evening gowns and costumes, using hand irons to produce high quality finishes.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14041 · Core · 5% automatable

Push and pull irons over surfaces of articles to smooth or shape them.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14044 · Core · 5% automatable

Finish pants, jackets, shirts, skirts and other dry-cleaned and laundered articles, using hand irons.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14039 · Core · 5% automatable

Slide material back and forth over heated, metal, ball-shaped forms to smooth and press portions of garments that cannot be satisfactorily pressed with flat pressers or hand irons.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14040 · Core · 55% automatable

Select appropriate pressing machines, based on garment properties such as heat tolerance.

decision support — Equipment selection against specs; human verifies fit

Select production equipment according to product specifications.

#14046 · Core · 10% automatable

Spray water over fabric to soften fibers when not using steam irons.

physical manipulation — Physical fabric/material preparation

Prepare fabrics or materials for processing or production.

#14045 · Core · 5% automatable

Position materials such as cloth garments, felt, or straw on tables, dies, or feeding mechanisms of pressing machines, or on ironing boards or work tables.

physical manipulation — Manual fixture adjustment

Adjust fabrics or other materials during garment production. Set equipment guides, stops, spacers, or other fixtures.

#14047 · Core · 10% automatable

Moisten materials to soften and smooth them.

physical manipulation — Physical fabric/material preparation

Prepare fabrics or materials for processing or production.

#14052 · Core · 8% automatable

Clean and maintain pressing machines, using cleaning solutions and lubricants.

physical manipulation — Physical production equipment maintenance

Clean production equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment.

#14057 · Core · 5% automatable

Press ties on small pressing machines.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14053 · Core · 4% automatable

Block or shape knitted garments after cleaning.

physical manipulation — Adjusting fabric is tactile manual work

Adjust fabrics or other materials during garment production.

#14050 · Core · 18% automatable

Activate and adjust machine controls to regulate temperature and pressure of rollers, ironing shoes, or plates, according to specifications.

physical manipulation — Manual temperature control adjustment

Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.

#14056 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Use covering cloths to prevent equipment from damaging delicate fabrics.

physical manipulation — Physical fabric/material preparation

Prepare fabrics or materials for processing or production.

#14059 · Supplemental · 27% automatable

Examine and measure finished articles to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as tape measures and micrometers.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

Inspect garments for defects, damage, or stains. Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications.

#14048 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Finish velvet garments by steaming them on bucks of hot-head presses or steam tables, and brushing pile (nap) with handbrushes.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14061 · Supplemental · 11% automatable

Measure fabric to specifications, cut uneven edges with shears, fold material, and press it with an iron to form a heading.

physical manipulation — Marking reference points requires hands-on measurement

Measure materials to mark reference points, cutting lines, or other indicators. Cut fabrics. Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14054 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Insert heated metal forms into ties and touch up rough places with hand irons.

physical manipulation — Fine manual dexterity on fabric with heat tools

Smooth garments with irons, presses, or steamers.

#14055 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Brush materials made of suede, leather, or felt to remove spots or to raise and smooth naps.

physical manipulation — Manual cleaning of fabrics with unpredictable materials

Clean fabrics or apparel.

#14060 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Sew ends of new material to leaders or to ends of material in pressing machines, using sewing machines.

physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work

Operate sewing equipment.

#14058 · Supplemental · 30% automatable

Select, install, and adjust machine components, including pressing forms, rollers, and guides, using hoists and hand tools.

decision support — Equipment selection against specs; human verifies fit

Select production equipment according to product specifications. Install mechanical components in production equipment.

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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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